Provider Website Biographies: A Key to Facilitating Patient Empowerment at an Employer-Sponsored Healthcare Facility

Employer-sponsored healthcare facilities are seen as a way for organizations to potentially save on costs and improve health outcomes by providing care closer to their employee populations. However, these outcomes can only be realized if patients feel empowered to choose, and subsequently want to continue visiting, the clinic’s providers. In partnership with a scholar of health communication, the HR/Benefits team at a large Midwest organization developed website biographies of clinicians (i.e., doctors, nurse practitioners) employed at its on-site primary care clinic. Post-visit surveys of new patients over the course of 4 years ( n = 652) found that more than half of patients (55%) who viewed providers’ online biographies made a purposive selection of the provider they visited, versus only 35% who did not view the online biographies. Patients who viewed biographies and actively selected their providers also reported a greater degree of relatability to the provider, greater perceived expertise of the provider, as well as a greater level of certainty regarding how the provider would interact within the consultation. Relatability with the provider and patient satisfaction were also significantly positively related ( r = .73). By simply developing online biographies of providers, workplace clinics can offer prospective patients a realistic glimpse of the providers on-staff, helping to reduce patient uncertainty, and empower patients to make decisions of providers that align with their personal wants and needs. This better patient/provider fit will hopefully lead to improvements in employee health over time.