"LIKE" A social media presence encourages positive comments and lets you deal with negative ones quickly.

Go online. Search for your hospital or surgery center. Click through the pages of results and see where your facility is mentioned. Any surprises? Then search your physicians and look at the results. Finally, visit your own website and click around. You just simulated what many of your patients — particularly the younger ones — do when their procedures have been scheduled at your facility.

The new outpatient surgery consumers (see "Ready for the New Healthcare Consumer?" January, page 10) rely more on technology to research and decide about their care, so you can't afford anything less than a strong and impeccable online presence. Here's why investing in your Internet visibility is vital to your facility's successes, and which areas to focus on.

Changing landscape
The old way: You had a website with your address, phone number, types of procedures performed, names of physicians and, if you were advanced, some downloadable forms for patients to print, fill out and bring with them. But today's consumers rely on the Internet — accessed from phones and tablets — and expect more.

According to data from Geonetric cited by HIT Consultant, 80% of Internet users look for health information online; health-related searches on Google were up 47% between 2011 and 2012; and 20% of users conduct searches for health-related content on mobile devices. These figures will only increase in the coming years.

An outdated website sends a message to patients and prospective physicians and staff about the quality of the care you provide and your willingness to invest in current technology in other areas. Just not the message you want. If you aren't encouraging positive reviews of your facility and its physicians, any negative reviews stand out.

Make your website work for you
Your website should be 2 things: a marketing tool, and a way to interact with patients and consumers. As such, it should be easily navigable, have a mobile version (for people using phones and tablets) and include most, if not all, of the following:

• detailed information about your facility, physicians (including qualifications) and procedures;
• short videos — providing tours, testimonials, physicians describing procedures, post-op instructions and more — to complement the written information;
• fillable forms for pre-op information and registration as well as patient satisfaction surveys (which ideally should automatically transfer to your in-house information systems);
• an online bill-pay option for co-pays and balances; and
• a feature that lets patients enter their addresses and get mapped directions to the facility.

If you want to go above and beyond, invest in an online chat feature through which patients can ask questions and receive responses — which can reduce phone calls. Adding a blog to your site needn't be fancy; it can simply provide a place for announcing news and events, posting articles by physicians, and providing educational materials. What's more, these efforts will make your site more web-search friendly, so the content you want patients and others to see shows up higher in the search results.

TEXT AND E-MAIL
Communicate As Your Patients Do

Many of your patients probably rely more on e-mail and text messages than on phone calls to receive and relay information. You should consider using text and e-mail to send surgery appointment and NPO reminders, inform patients of scheduling delays and even update surgical progress to family members (see "Keep Loved Ones Informed During Surgery" on page 85). Just make sure to receive written approval before releasing any patient information to friends or family, and assure patients their contact information will be used strictly according to HIPAA rules.

— Joan Dentler, MBA

Reach out and tweet someone
According to a PricewaterhouseCoopers survey, 24% of consumers use social media to post health experiences or updates. By developing a social media presence through platforms such as Facebook and Twitter, you can encourage patients to share (hopefully positive) comments.

And if you see negative comments? You can, by and large, proactively address them with good customer service that will leave the patient feeling positive. You can also post news and helpful bits of information — mini-blogs, if you will.

It's easy to get social media accounts, but crucial to maintain and grow that presence. An inactive Facebook account may be viewed much like an outdated website. It's also important to note social media platforms rank high in web searches.

Garner rave reviews
Online review sites such as Yelp and Angie's List are no longer just for restaurants and car repair shops — it's quite common to find healthcare providers on these sites. New consumers are accustomed to using review sites as part of their research and to sharing their experiences on these platforms for everything, including healthcare encounters. Develop a presence on these sites, upload photos and keep information current while encouraging patients to provide reviews (perhaps on your patient-satisfaction surveys). As with social media platforms, these online review sites perform well in web searches.

Technology ROI
To the eyes of the new healthcare consumer, a facility that invests in new technology that he can interact with is a facility that understands and cares about the needs of its patients. If you don't invest the time and money, the new consumer may not see your facility as the best option for his care.