Client Situation
Westmed Medical Group, an award-winning multispecialty medical practice with approximately 350,000 patients, 500 physicians and advanced care providers, and supported by 1,500 clinical employees, was being bombarded with patient complaints, community outrage and negative publicity regarding a new patient portal and an outsourced Call Center.
Challenges
- To mitigate an overwhelming number of patient complaints about Westmed’s new patient portal, which had major technological flaws (record keeping, patient access, appointments, and services), as well as an outsourced Call Center, which had exceptionally long phone wait times.
- To defuse an ever-growing number of patient complaints, negative feedback, and negative reviews, and stop the cycle of bad publicity and negative feedback.
- Put an end to patient “swarms” and the piling on of negative comments on Westmed’s social media platforms.
- To improve perceptions and opinions about Westmed, now seen as uncaring, unprofessional, disorganized, impersonal, and out of touch.
- Renew trust among Westmed patients and employees.
DDRPR Strategies
- Create a clear, consistent, and extremely responsive patient-targeted crisis communications campaign for Westmed Medical Group.
- Execute DDRPR’s Respond, Recover, Grow strategy by providing quick responses, continuous and honest updates, and by refocusing patient attention on the positive aspects of Westmed, including premier medical care, top doctors, etc.
- Develope a Reputation Management program to continuously monitor online chatter, buzz, and reviews, including constant engagement with quick and appropriate responses.
- Execute an Omnichannel Media Campaign, utilizing earned media, social media, online review sites, Westmed “owned” media (i.e., website, patient e-communications, blog, etc.) to communicate a unified message that is timely and widespread.
- Create an engaging employee communications campaign designed to promote a feeling of pride and solidarity among the Westmed health care/office team.
DDRPR Action
- Worked closely with the CEO, Patient Liason Director and Marketing Director to develop patient communications and quotes for the CEO to use in interviews.
- Developed and disseminated continuous patient updates to keep patients informed about the proactive steps and new processes created by Westmed to resolve its issues and flaws.
- Created press releases and features, as well as blogs for the website and social media, which served to highlight Westmed’s key attributes and patient success stories; showcasing its top doctors and range of medical services.
- Tracked online chatter, buzz, and reviews on platforms like Facebook, Nextdoor, Google, Yelp, and other major platforms.
- Created pre-approved responses to post in relevant conversations and posts on social media.
- Identified and engaged “ambassadors and allies” among patients, staff, and media to provide testimonials and positive quotes.
- Conducted patient and staff surveys at the campaign’s start, midpoint, and end.
DDRPR Impact
Our efforts effectively defused patient anger and frustration while reversing the trend of negative feedback.
- A week-to-week comparison featuring social media platforms, as well as incoming complaints via email, phone, and mail showed a significant reversal in the negative-to-positive feedback ratio during the campaign.
- We successfully put out emerging fires by addressing all concerns immediately, leaving no time for rumors to emerge and preventing negative media coverage.
- Positive comments increased, reflecting improved patient perceptions of Westmed’s responsiveness and care.
