Using social media to improve patient satisfaction

With more than 94 percent of U.S. hospitals on Facebook, 4 the social media platform has become an increasingly popular way to engage patients. Many hospitals continually monitor their Facebook pages and are quick to respond to comments on a patient-by-patient basis. Recent research suggests that hospitals should also take the larger view and use individual comments to discern broader public opinion.

For their latest research, Dr. Huppertz and colleagues mined star ratings and comments from hospital Facebook pages to investigate potential similarities between Facebook reviews and HCAPHS ratings. “The findings suggest that what patients say on Facebook predicts a hospital’s global measures of patient experience,” Dr. Huppertz says.

He recommends that hospitals tap into the wealth of commentary on social media and take advantage of what could be an early-warning system. “Comments from patients and family members can alert administrators to quality problems well before they show up in HCAHPS survey results,” Dr. Huppertz says. Equally important, comments on social media can help staff understand and address the problems patients have experienced. That can have a positive impact on quality and patient satisfaction.

Comments from patients and family members can alert administrators to quality problems well before they show up in HCAHPS survey results.

— John W. Huppertz, PhD, specialist in healthcare marketing and management