Dentaltown May 2016 - (Page 14)
professional courtesy
column
A 5-Star Future?
The world is smitten with reviews.
I'm guilty of consulting Rotten Tomatoes to read
opinions about movies, Yelp for restaurants, Amazon
for products and Google for other businesses. This
barely scratches the surface for places where we can find
reviews-for example, numerous sites include reviews
of dental practices.
There's no end to this review culture; in fact, I'd
suggest that we're headed for an expansion. We might
be on a trajectory that will change human interaction
forever. (Yes, that last sentence was deliberately dramatic.)
Technology has enabled many
wonderful conveniences in our lives,
but it's also on a path to define us
in ways we've never seen before.
If you travel a bit or live near a major metropolitan
area, you've heard of Uber, the app that provides car
service on demand. I know that Uber provides an
experience superior to the ubiquitous taxi, because taxi
drivers hate Uber. I love that you can hail a ride and
instantly see how soon your driver is expected to arrive.
Another interesting feature of Uber is that it includes
ratings: At the end of your trip you receive a notification
to rate your driver's service on a scale of one to five stars.
This ensures recognition for the drivers who are doing a
great job getting passengers from point A to point B. I
can't tell you how many times I would have appreciated
that feature in a cab!
The flip side of this feature is
that the driver has the opportunity
to rate you as a passenger, as well. If
you're rude or leave a mess in the car,
you might get a low rating and the
next time you need a lift, the drivers
who see your request may choose to
pick someone else up instead. Some
people may think that's unfair, but
it's really a sign of things to come.
The reviews are in
Technology has enabled many wonderful conveniences in our lives, but it's also on a path to define us
in ways we've never seen before. For example, Facebook
has penetrated the Internet-accessible population better
than any other social network. In the process, it's giving
your Facebook "friends" access to your likes and dislikes,
and is generating mounds of data on the population
at large. Employers now routinely use it to screen job
applicants. Facebook may not provide a one-to-five-star
rating, but people are drawing their own conclusions.
LinkedIn provides the ability for your contacts to
endorse you for specific skills, or to write a recommendation based on their experience working with you. All of
this information can be very positive and quite helpful.
Reviewing the future
Let's take a step into the world of fantasy. How much
longer will it be before someone develops a platform
that provides reviews on dental patients? Wouldn't it be
terrific if you could see that your new patient tomorrow
is frequently late for his appointments? Patients would
be unable to leave one dentist with an unpaid balance
and simply start over in another office. What about
patients who've been rude to team members?
This dental rating would follow them everywhere,
just like their credit rating. Think for a moment how
this system would affect marketing a practice. There
could be incentives to attract the best patients, and
financial penalties for the patients who have not been
kind. Would this affect patient behavior? How would
dentists react to having ratings that go both ways?
While my silly dental fantasy would violate many
HIPAA regulations, I know there are frustrated business
owners who have been held hostage by a malicious person
posting a bad review. Reviewers act with impunity
because they are not subject to having their own behavior
reviewed publicly. I can only hope these reviewers will
heed the words of Uncle Ben to Peter Parker: "With
great power comes great responsibility."
Where do you think our review culture is headed?
Post your comments to the digital version of this article
on Dentaltown.com. I can also be reached via email:
tom@dentaltown.com. ■
by Thomas Giacobbi, DDS, FAGD, editorial director, Dentaltown magazine
14
MAY 2016 // dentaltown.com
http://www.Dentaltown.com
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Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Dentaltown May 2016
On Dentaltown.com
HOWARD SPEAKS: Talking Monkeys, Reviews Gone Wild, and Valuable Margins
PROFESSIONAL COURTESY: A 5-Star Future?
Continuing Education Update
Industry News
Special-Needs Patients
3Shape TRIOS 3
The ABCs of Dental Ethics
Townie Meeting Recap
Is It Time to Be Conservative, or Progressive?
Balancing the Scale(r)s
A Dope Does a Startup
The Dental Laser’s Role in Managing Periodontal Disease
Do Good: A WHALE OF AN EFFORT
Do Good: HOW SMILES ON WINGS TOOK FLIGHT
Do Good: SERVING THOSE WHO HAVE SERVED
Do Good: BE A HERO, HONOR A HERO
Do Good: THIS WE’LL DEFEND
Do Good: PAYING IT FORWARD
Do Good: A BEACH IN WESTERN KENYA
Do Good: A GIANT EFFORT: HENRY SCHEIN CARES
Should I Stay or Should I Go Now?
Poll
New Products
Ad Index
You Should Know
Practice Solutions: Tokuyama Dental
Product Profi le: Planmeca
CONTINUING EDUCATION: Mill In or Send Out?
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