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36 PRACTICE MANAGEMENT How to Beat Out Yelp, Healthgrades & Take Control of Spine Center Referrals By Erin Marshall H ow do patients learn about their healthcare options? In today's world of technology, it's difficult for them to secure one reliable way of choosing where they should go to receive care. But Prizm Development, which develops spine centers of excellence, is looking to change that by utilizing certain techniques to appeal to patients. Among others, Yelp and Healthgrades are central to how patients learn about the healthcare environment. And the prevalence of such sites isn't going away — patients will continue to obtain information from the internet, and physicians and provid- ers need to be equipped to paint the best possible picture of themselves. "is isn't an evolutionary thing," Prizm Development President Bob Reznik said at the Becker's 14th annual Spine, Orthopedic & Pain Man- agement-Driven ASC Conference. "Health- care will end up with a more logical system for ratings eventually. Some sort of national registry will replace it all," he predicted. Unfortunately, such sites don't always portray providers in the best light, and therefore they can't truly help patients find the right pro- vider. Rather than fully relying on Yelp and Healthgrades, Prizm Development seeks to fully educate consumers and better direct pa- tients to its spine centers of excellence. Since 50 percent of Prizm's promotional materials are direct-to-consumer, it considers its inter- net site the hub of all pertinent information. "With all the content we bury in our center's website, the information comes up high in organic searches," Mr. Reznik said. But that's not all. Another 10 percent of Prizm's advertising is business-related, while 40 percent is through referrals. For exam- ple, the company has created its own Prizm Home Remedy Book, which it encourages primary care physicians to distribute to their patients. rough these booklets, the physi- cians are able to not only help their patients but also refer them to one of Prizm's spine centers of excellence. e promotion isn't over when the patient arrives at one of the centers of excellence, though. "You want to communicate that this space is different," Mr. Reznik said. How exactly is the center different from any other spine facility? For one, each center of excellence is equipped with not only a spine surgeon, but also with a physical medicine doctor who will see the patients first. In this way, the entire team works together rather than competitively. Additionally, a spine cen- ter of excellence must look the part. "Space planning is key," Mr. Reznik concluded. "e spine center of the future will be freestanding and will be a blend between a fitness center and a doctor's office." n After Medical Error, Former Microsoft Designer Works With Hospital to Find Where Things Went Wrong By Shannon Barnet A ugust de los Reyes, a former top designer with Mi- crosoft, was paralyzed while receiving care at Over- lake Hospital Medical Center in Bellevue, Wash., in 2013. Now, Mr. de los Reyes and Overlake are conducting a case study to identify the errors that contributed to his becoming a paraplegic, according to a CNBC report. Mr. de los Reyes has anklylosing spondylitis, an autoim- mune disorder that makes his spine very brittle and sus- ceptible to fracture from even minor trauma. On May 11, 2013, Mr. de los Reyes fell off his bed and went to Overlake Hospital, fearing a back fracture. Despite telling all the cli- nicians he met about his condition and concerns, few care providers heeded Mr. de los Reyes' warnings and he was sent home after an imaging scan. On May 25, 2013, Mr. de los Reyes returned to Overlake in excruciating pain. According to a lawsuit the patient filed against the hospital in 2014, clinicians broke Mr. de los Reyes' back while positioning him for an MRI scan, leaving him paralyzed. Overlake settled Mr. de los Reyes' lawsuit, agreeing to pay him $20 million. According to CNBC, Overlake has recently agreed to work with Mr. de los Reyes on a case study to examine what led to his injury. "It would be a mistake to treat this as an isolated incident limited to a single provider," Mr. de los Reyes told CNBC. "Let's take all of the lessons we've learned and use them to make hospitals everywhere safer for patients." Robert Gellatly, Mr. de los Reyes' lawyer, told CNBC he is unaware of a single malpractice litigation case in which the hospital's leaders agreed to collaborate with an injured patient after a settlement to investigate the cause of the in- cident and possibly propose reforms to hospital protocols to avoid similar errors. "Activating de los Reyes' direct perspective as a patient and as an expert on systems design and design processes will help Overlake with innovative ways to achieve even greater heights with safety and quality," Overlake CEO J. Michael Marsh said, according to a prepared statement. "I look forward to learning from and working with him." n