NextCare uses software platform to improve its reputation

Management system helps urgent care chain gain insights from customer reviews.


Urgent care center chain NextCare Holdings is taking advantage of a software platform that optimizes its ability to interpret its performance and improve patient reports that affect its reputation.

Those ratings are critical to growing the business, says Jesse Henderson, vice president of sales and marketing at NextCare Holdings, a chain that today has more than 140 clinics in 10 states.

When NextCare started the program in 2015, it was generating about 100 reviews a month, with half of them positive. Now, it generates more than 600 monthly reviews, with 70 percent positive.

In urgent care, assessing provider reputation is important, because patients are likely to go online and review clinics’ ratings with other patients. That trend is likely to expand to other provider venues—all providers need deeper understanding of where they stand in their community, Henderson adds.

As NextCare expanded, the realization grew that company wasn’t getting a large quantity of patient reviews and feedback, so it did not have good visualization of its performance, Henderson recalls. “We saw the importance of getting a software platform so we could see what patients were saying, good and bad, and respond to them.

“I think we all felt we were providing a solid standard of care and patient experience. However, the actual submitted reviews may not have reflected that in some instances,” Henderson explains.

That was the impetus to implement enterprisewide reputation management software from Reputation.com, across all clinics to standardize the collection and analysis of the organization’s reputation and how it compared with competitors. The software also supports search engine optimization (SEO) to improve the visibility and ranking of NextCare in the list of results of a search. “Once we had aggregated visible access to our online ratings and reviews, it became a clear listening tool for us to create specific focus areas by clinic.”

Managers at each clinic receive performance data so they can understand the community’s perception of the clinic and make any improvements that may be necessary. The software also enables NextCare to significantly increase its overall reviews, giving a more granular view of customer satisfaction.

Also See: 30 top urgent care center chains

The organization attributes its improved results to the fact that the reputation management software forced NextCare to change its culture. Now, its centers reach out to patients who were pleased with the service to increase their submission of reviews, which raises the company’s visibility.

After a patient visit, NextCare sends an email to the patient within 48 hours of the visit with links to three customer satisfaction survey sites, and clinic managers receive a daily report on reviews the previous day. This enables managers to identify visits that may not have been satisfactory and work with staff to find out what could have been done differently to result in a better patient experience.

Staff education and management were the toughest and most important areas to focus on in a successful rollout of the reputation management software, Henderson says.

Now, NextCare is adopting new reporting tools and training for managers to continue sharpening reporting and analysis skills, including a tool comparing facilities’ adherence to industry standards covering competence, communication, pain management professionalism, satisfaction and clinic appearance, as well as holding all staff accountable to continually improving star ratings.

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