The BYU Student Health Center Google Review score jumped to 2.9 as a result of “aggressive and decided” media outreach to patients, according to SHC executive Brad LeBaron. Healthcare marketing company Social Climb helped them do it.
336 Google Reviews indicate a split between 5-star and 1-star reviews of the SHC without many in between.
Similar ratings are common across U.S. student health centers, according to a list provided by Princeton Review. These schools include the University of Utah and Utah State, and, according to LeBaron, likely fail to capture the complete picture.
“We saw our Google review numbers setting at about 2.47, 2.46 and they’d been there for a long time,” LeBaron said. “I’ve been doing this since I graduated from BYU in 1988 and there’s no way this organization is not a 4.75 in terms of stars. It just is.”
LeBaron started work as the director of the SHC in 2014 after his work with Uintah Basin Health Services. According to LeBaron, some SHC doctors or providers from past eras did not reach the same standards they do now. Nowadays, LeBaron is pleased with the work his providers do for the BYU community.
“As a hospital administrator working outside of here, if I could, I would steal any one of these providers. They could work in any hospital I’ve ever worked in,” LeBaron said.
LeBaron said he and the SHC staff wanted their public media reviews to reflect their work and hired a medical marketing company out of Lehi, Social Climb, to aid them nearly two months ago.
The company software allows the SHC to connect more easily with patients to receive feedback, according to LeBaron. Furthermore, LeBaron and others increased their engagement with reviewers on google to address complaints or compliments.
“It’s not because we’re better. We’ve always been this good. We just didn’t have a vehicle that was primed in the way that shows the public how good we are,” LeBaron said.
While he lauded the work the SHC providers do for students, LeBaron also acknowledged the limitations of a student health clinic.
He emphasized the BYU SHC is a “primary care” facility similar to family doctor’s offices and urgent care facilities. Primary care providers will direct patients in need of specialty care to the appropriate organizations, including Intermountain Healthcare and other providers in Utah Valley.
BYU sophomore and neuroscience major Jenson Zaugg is one of the students who regularly frequents the SHC and left a positive review. After fracturing his wrist during a basketball game on his mission in Knoxville, TN, Zaugg needed another cast and physical therapy.
“It’s been pretty great. Honestly, like the employees are really nice, well organized,” Zaugg said.
Overall, his experience with the SHC and one of their visiting specialty providers was a positive one. Zaugg left a review after he received two text messages with a link to a feedback survey.
“I got a text like an automated text from the health center, asking me to fill in a survey and then write a review. And so I was like, well, just because they asked me, yes, I’ll do it,” Zaugg said.
BYU Public Health grad Cassidy Weaver continues to have concerns despite the rise in ratings. Three years ago Weaver ran a marathon and went to the SHC after experiencing severe hip pain. After x-rays were taken and inflammatory medication didn’t help, she returned a few days later.
Weaver said one provider was “dismissive” of her pain as she asked for an MRI and the provider recommended rest. After insisting, Weaver received the order for her MRI.
“I go in the next day to get the MRI and it turns out I needed emergency surgery because I had completely like, fractured all the way through my femur. And so I had emergency surgery the next day. Like plate and screws, the whole thing,” Weaver said.
Weaver said the experience gave her passion to become a public health professional and she now works for a non-profit after completing her masters in Public Health at BYU.
LeBaron acknowledged that negative experiences within the healthcare system are bound to happen and potential patients shouldn’t let that dissuade them from taking advantage of the SHC services.
“You can come here with all the faith and confidence that you will be cared for as good or better than any other place you could go in this valley,” LeBaron said.
