If you are a medical professional and search yourself on Google, chances are that a website called Healthgrades will show up with information about yourself. You might have never visited this site, but it’s very important because prospective patients and referring doctors are utilizing this site to make decisions about which doctor to choose. In order to give yourself the best chance of showing up, it’s important to enhance your Healthgrades profile using the tools they provide.
How does Healthgrades get my information, you ask?
Healthgrades obtains information from hundreds of government and commercially available resources. But it is up to you to make sure that the information about you and your practice is correct.
Let’s run the numbers
According to healthgrades.com, more than one million people a day rely upon Healthgrades to research, compare and connect with physicians and other healthcare professionals. 54% of Healthgrades visitors will make an appointment with a doctor. 95% of those who make an appointment do so within 7 days. It’s safe to say that Healthgrades visitors are actively engaged and looking to make appointments. Now is a good time to check to see if patients are finding the right information about your practice.
How to claim your Healthgrades profile
It’s super easy to claim your Healthgrades profile. Just go to this link: https://update.healthgrades.com/ and fill out the form. Once you find your name, enter your email and choose a password, it will take you through the steps to complete your profile. Once you get to the final page you are required to enter in your last 4 digits of your DEA number for verification.
4 Features to Utilize in Healthgrades
1. Learn About This Provider
When looking at your Healthgrades profile there are four main tabs at the top. The first tab that you see is the “Learn about this Provider” tab. When you click on this tab is brings down a menu of a lot of different information that pertains to you and your practice. It includes things like what you specialize in, conditions treated, procedures performed, and your education history. It’s very important to fill out all this information so when prospective patients come looking at your profile they get a clear and accurate picture of what you do.
2. Visit This Provider
This section of your profile is extremely important. This part is all about the practice where you work. It includes the name of your practice, address, phone number, and website. It also includes a section that shows all of the physicians that work at the practice. It’s very important to make sure that your physician profile is properly connected to the practice profile.
3. Review This Provider
This section contains all of the reviews written by your patients about you and your practice. Reviews are so important for your practice and can be the tipping point for people making decisions about whether to come to your practice or not. If a patient is comparing two different doctors, and one of the doctors has 40 reviews while the other doctor has none, the patient will more than likely pick the doctor that has reviews. This is your opportunity to give yourself a competitive advantage for free! All you have to do is direct your patients to leave reviews on your Healthgrades profile. Check out the two profiles below, which doctor would you choose?
4. Compare this provider
This section allows prospective patients to find other doctors in the area you are searching. If you want the best chance of getting yourself in this area it requires you to have a complete profile with lots of reviews.
Now do yourself and your practice a favor by enhancing your Healthgrades profile with descriptions, photos, and reviews! If you would like help with this, or if you have any questions about Healthgrades, give us a call, we’d love to chat!