Patient satisfaction, long ignored by healthcare industry, now a priority

Laura Markowski used to worry every time a text alerted her that a patient had posted a negative review online of a doctor at her health-care system. She's in charge of "reputation management" at a group of hospitals and clinics in Virginia, and it's her job to monitor complaints about rudeness, long waits, lack of face time with a doctor or something more serious. But after several months of reviewing comments in real time on nearly a dozen Web sites, including Healthgrades.com, ZocDoc.com and Google Plus, as well as Facebook and Twitter, she's calmer.