How UT Physicians improved ratings and increased web visibility
UT Physicians went from 280 Google reviews to 2,173 in one year. Its average rating climbed from 2.9 to 4.6 stars, and its share of 5-star reviews more than doubled, from 41% to 87%.
The group got there by surveying patients the same day as their visit, inviting happy patients to post a review while they were excited about their care, and answering every review, good or bad, as close to real time as possible.
Here’s how their patient experience team runs reviews day to day, and what any health care organization can borrow from it.
Key takeaways
- UT Physicians increased its Google reviews by 676% in 2022, from 280 to 2,173.
- Its average Google rating rose from 2.9 to 4.6 out of 5.0.
- Five-star ratings grew from 41% to 87% of all reviews.
- Speed drove the results: same-day surveys, an in-survey invitation to review, and a dedicated team member who responds to reviews.
- The team treats every review, including the hard ones, as the voice of the patient, not something to remove.
Why do online reviews matter so much in health care?
Online reviews are often the first impression a patient has of your organization. NRC Health data shows that 52.3% of consumers have viewed ratings and reviews of health care providers online before making an appointment
Patients look at three things when they compare providers: the average star rating, the number of reviews, and what reviewers say.
A 2.9-star average with a few hundred reviews tells a prospective patient something very different from a 4.6-star average built on thousands.
“Consumers research organizations and their online reviews,” says Sharon Messimer, MLA, Director of Patient Experience for UT Physicians.
“It’s kind of the standard thing consumers do if they’re looking for any kind of service. They’re not just patients being told where to go; they’re becoming consumers who want the information to be available and transparent. It’s where we are in any industry, health care must be taking note of that and not lagging.”
Who is UT Physicians?
UT Physicians is a Houston group practice of more than 2,000 clinicians, certified in more than 80 medical specialties and subspecialties, with more than 100 locations. It’s the practice of UTHealth Houston, a health science university made up of six schools focused on health care education, innovation, scientific discovery, and excellence in patient care.
The group wanted stronger online star ratings and greater brand awareness, with a longer-term goal in mind: patient loyalty.
How did UT Physicians get more patient reviews?
UT Physicians got more reviews by asking at the right moment. Its patient experience team built the whole process around speed.
- Survey patients the same day.
Real-time feedback puts the survey in front of patients while the visit is still fresh in their minds. - Invite a review at the end of the survey.
Patients who’ve just shared positive feedback get the option to post an online review, while they’re still excited about their care. - Staff the response.
A patient experience team member is dedicated to responding to reviews, with a named backup so no review waits. - Respond to everything.
Positive reviews get acknowledged. Negative reviews get a same-day invitation to call and talk it through.
“The real-time factor helps us get same-day surveys out as fast as possible,” Messimer says.
“The patient gets the survey quicker while it’s still fresh in their mind. At the end of the survey, we ask patients to opt in to provide an online review when they’re still excited. That speed is a big advantage. The reputation-management tools work together to get us the results we want to improve customer loyalty.”
Should health care organizations try to remove negative reviews?
No. Messimer says the better question is what the review reveals, and what the organization will change because of it.
“Sometimes people think, ‘I don’t like that review. I want to remove it,'” she says.
Leaders should instead ask, “That’s out there. What will we do to change, so we don’t have people who publish reviews like that?”
She also points out that many health systems overlook the indirect revenue reviews influence. Every review is public, and prospective patients read the hard ones closely.
How should providers respond to patient reviews?
Respond to every review, and do it quickly. For UT Physicians, a response is a chance to recover a relationship or strengthen one.
“It’s an opportunity to do service recovery if something is wrong, or acknowledge someone if they gave a wonderful review, which builds retention,” Messimer says. “Recognizing a patient who has given us a good review creates loyalty, because they will do it again.
If they’re unhappy, we respond to them in as close to real time as we can, with a person looking at all the reviews saying, ‘We’re sorry you had that experience. Please contact us,’ then allowing that patient to call us and voice that concern.
The more data you have, the more ‘voice of the patient,’ the better off you are as an organization.”
Notice what that response leaves out: no clinical details, and no confirmation that the reviewer was ever a patient. Moving the conversation offline protects patient privacy and gives the patient a real person to talk to.
What can other health care organizations learn from UT Physicians?
The lesson is that review volume follows process, not luck. Any group practice or health system can adapt UT Physicians’ approach:
- Shorten the gap between visit and survey. The fresher the experience, the more likely a patient is to respond.
- Make reviewing easy for satisfied patients. A single opt-in at the end of a survey removes the effort of finding your listing.
- Give reviews an owner and a backup. Timeliness only happens when it’s someone’s job.
- Treat criticism as data. A negative review points to a moment in the care journey worth fixing.
Every review is a patient telling you something
UT Physicians didn’t raise its rating from 2.9 to 4.6 by running after stars. Its team asked patients sooner, answered them faster, and treated the hard reviews as information instead of a threat. The 2,173 reviews followed.
That’s the part any organization can copy. You don’t need a bigger marketing budget to send a survey the same day, to give one person ownership of responses, or to reply to an unhappy patient with “please contact us” instead of silence.
As Messimer puts it, “The more data you have, the more ‘voice of the patient,’ the better off you are as an organization.”
More consumers choosing your organization is good for its financial health and its standing in the community. But the reviews matter for a simpler reason: each one is a real person describing what it felt like to be in your care. Listening to them, and showing that you did, is Human Understanding in practice.
Hear what your patients are telling you. Your patients are already talking about their care. The question is whether you hear it in time to act on it. See how NRC Health helps health care organizations gather feedback in real time and turn it into a reputation that reflects the care they deliver.
