Kansas City, MO -- (SBWIRE) -- 04/05/2010 -- Your walls are cluttered with awards and degrees. You’ve put your life on hold to focus on your career. You toiled through undergrad, medical school, residency and years of practice. Now, just one angry, vocal patient is threatening to ruin your hard-earned reputation with an unflattering online review.

You’re concerned, as you should be. 73 percent of people looking for a doctor use the internet. Dr. Melissa Young recently wrote a blog detailing her disbelief at the poor score just one review had determined for her. “At first glance, my one-star ratings in nearly every category make me look like a horrible physician with no bedside manner, whom no one would recommend to family or friends. I also apparently had incompetent, discourteous staff. But a closer look reveals that there is only one rating by a very angry patient, one who thinks I need ‘to learn to be a human’.”

“People are more likely to post online reviews when they are angry. The trick is to get the rest of your patients posting about the amazing experiences they’ve had in your office,” says Jonathan Whistman, partner at (e)Merge MD. “Simply ask your regulars to log onto healthgrades.com, drscore.com or vitals.com and share their opinions. Nothing washes away a bad review like a barrage of positive ones.”

Patients may not need prompting if their positive experience in your office is worth remembering. Satisfied patients may not be inspired to write up a stellar review, but one who has just been “wowed” sure will. Take this opportunity to ramp up every aspect of your practice and find what makes you unique. Your patients should be excited to tell friends, family and the World Wide Web what an amazing and distinctive experience they just had with you and your staff.

You can also combat a negative online reputation with your own voice. “If a patient writes a damaging review, respond,” says Jamie Verkamp, partner at (e)Merge MD. “Keep up on fresh content so you can react in a timely manner. Tell the person you are sorry they feel there is a problem and to call you as soon as possible to work it out. The next person who sees that vile post will also see a caring, engaged physician.”

(e)Merge is a medical practice growth consulting firm specializing in providing innovative, patient-centric marketing initiatives and medical mystery shopping services that enhance patient experiences to increase referrals. Our programs are designed to strategically achieve sustained patient volume growth for medical practices and health organizations. For more information, please contact us toll free at 1.877.362.6584, visit us at http://www.emergewithus.com, or follow us on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/eMergeMD.