Responding to online reviews?


The following is an excerpt of a Yelp review of an Orthodontist I know and like:  " I have friends that are paying a fraction of the money with Smile Direct Club and are experiencing much better customer service. Don't bother going here unless you enjoy being treated badly and you have a spare $6,000 that you're looking to throw away..." 

Now I should add that my colleague is an extremely skillful practitioner, whose fees in my opinion are quite reasonable. I am told that the author of the review, although happy with her orthodontic result, wasn't pleased with how an employee who works for the dentist had spoken to her.  Also felt she had spent too much money on her treatment.Her review compared his services to Smile Direct, a
a treatment that doesn't involve being seen directly with an onsite orthodontist. 

Unfortunately the customer is not really always right and "You can't go to heaven with out dying" . Wanting the best and wanting to pay the least are sometimes not compatible ideas.

Another Reviewer of a dental practice brags about her dentist:  " I've been going for years and they have charged my cleanings, zoom whitening and one extraction all to my insurance without costing me one cent out of pocket. 'They get it and that's why they continue to get my business. "  

 Let consider this.   If this review is to be believed, it implies is  that his dentist accepts his dental insurance as full payment , with no co-pay and no deductibles. Although this seems like a good deal,  it is probably not "kosher" or even legal. The dentist is engaged in a marketing scheme that might be considered insurance fraud. He is not just giving his patients a discount on their treatment, but is not being truthful reporting to the insurance company about his fees. His claims are reporting inflated fees  and his actual fees are lower. This may be considered insurance fraud and the dentist if reported could be prosecuted and if proven guilty would have a felony conviction on his record for insurance fraud. 

In effect the dentist (and the patient) is stealing from the dental insurance company. Is this a victimless crime? Probably not, since "honest people" are in effect paying a higher premium than they would if there wasn't so much insurance fraud. This is not really a victimless crime. 

Another way to look at this- if they are seeing a dentist who is cheating the insurance companies, what makes them expect he will be more honest  about their diagnosis and treatments? 

Should a dentist respond to a negative review? While It is true that while we are restricted in what we say and can't violate a patients HIPPA rights,  we can address some of the things written about but It can be tricky responding and the response shouldn't sound angry in tone.  This can be difficult since sometimes reviews are quite one sided and don't present a true picture of the dental practice they are about. They can be all negative or all positive, but the truth is usually more nuanced and involves shades of grey not mentioned in a short online review.

 In truth the best way to respond to a negative review is to surround it with positive reviews from other satisfied patients. I have written about this before and treating patients well and getting them to write reviews is the best way to maintain a great online reputation. Potential patients reading reviews are well aware that not everyone reviewer will be happy but if the vast majority of a practice's reviews are good than they will tend to discount a review or two from disgruntled former patients. 




from Ask Dr. Spindel - http://lspindelnycdds.blogspot.com/2018/12/responding-to-online-reviews.html - http://lspindelnycdds.blogspot.com/

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