When it comes to choosing a hospital or health system, most patients base their decision on the organization’s brand. Online information is a significant contributor to brand reputation and its importance can’t be underestimated.
According to a recent survey, nearly 90% of consumers indicated that online information is crucial to selecting a provider and over half said they rely on online reviews when assessing referred providers.
In a Becker’s webinar sponsored by Reputation, Jordan Pinzolo, enterprise account executive at Reputation, moderated a panel with three healthcare experts about the role that online reviews play in building a brand and improving the patient experience:
- John Kirby, senior VP and president, Virtua Mount Holly Hospital and Virtua Willingboro Hospital (Mount Holly, N.J. and Willingboro, N.J.)
- Andrew Rainey, VP, head of North American sales, Reputation
- Ryan Younger, VP strategic marketing, Virtua Health (headquartered in Marlton, N.J.)
The group discussed Virtua Health’s strategic campaign to improve the online reputation of its Willingboro hospital.
Here are three key takeaways from their conversation:
- As outpatient care grows, online reviews are increasingly important for brand reputation.
Historically, hospitals and health systems have focused heavily on HCAHPS survey scores to measure patient perceptions. Those survey results, while important, are limited to individuals who receive inpatient care. But with the dramatic growth in outpatient care, healthcare organizations recognize they must use a wider lens to evaluate the strength of their brands.
In 2024 and 2025, for example, around 60% of Virtua Health’s encounters came in through the outpatient side. “HCAHPS doesn’t reflect those visits,” Mr. Kirby said. “This gave us the idea to look for data that was more real-time and easier for people to find. We started venturing into our own online reputation and our Google scores.”
Virtua Health learned that online reviews don’t flow in on their own; organizations must proactively ask patients for them. In response, the organization mobilized a cross-departmental team to make sure that public-facing comments reflect the care provided. This group experimented with different strategies, such as creating QR codes to simplify the review process, having leaders explain to patients why reviews are important and showing patients where to leave reviews.
“Over three years at Virtua Willingboro Hospital, we improved our online Google rating from 2.8 to 4.5 — this is the highest in our health system and the highest Reputation rating in the country for acute care hospitals,” Mr. Kirby said. “We did it by having a good ground game and having great conversations with our community.” - Internal collaboration and a strong marketing team are critical for building a strong online brand.
Virtua Health’s culture is centered on patient care, transparency and collaboration. This extends to the organization’s work on its online brand. Mr. Younger said online reputation is part of Virtua Health’s broader focus on consumers.
“We have an inclusive and consistent approach to the care we provide to everyone we serve,” he said. “The rallying cry around patient experience is ‘everybody, always.’ What someone says online about one doctor or facility impacts patient perceptions across all of Virtua Health.”
Marketing plays an integral role in supporting Virtua Health’s online branding work. The marketing team and its dedicated digital community engagement specialist serve as a centralized resource that supports many different groups. “We help them understand the true insights behind reviews in real time,” Mr. Younger said. “It takes some infrastructure. You don’t just wake up one day and decide to do this.”
Monitoring and responding to patients’ online feedback is one of Virtua Health’s most important tactics. Across departments, teams share online feedback, celebrate wins and allow employees to take pride in what patients say. - Online reviews have a halo effect that extends to talent acquisition and strategic growth initiatives.
Virtua Willingboro Hospital’s improved online ratings have positively impacted employee recruitment. This has been a welcome and unexpected benefit for the organization. Mr. Kirby explained that during an interview, a nurse said that the many great online reviews were the reason she applied for the job.
“That’s something we never thought we would hear,” he said. “We didn’t consider that positive online reviews would drive employees to want to work here.”
Some hospitals and health systems are also using online reviews as part of their merger and acquisition strategies. Mr. Rainey noted that ratings and reviews shed light on the patient experience in new markets and service lines. “We’re seeing groups using Reputation Score and/or Google ratings to better understand what they’re potentially buying into,” he said.
To register for upcoming webinars, click here.
