How Patients Find Care Today and What It Means for Patient Acquisition

Key Takeaways

• Patient acquisition begins long before an appointment is scheduled.
• Patients choose where to receive care by evaluating physicians, quality signals, and trusted health information, not just convenience.
• Organizations that engage consumers during these moments have more opportunities to influence patient choice.
• Healthgrades helps healthcare organizations connect with high-intent patients throughout the patient acquisition journey.

Many healthcare organizations think about patient acquisition through the lens of conversion. Website visits, appointment requests, and scheduled visits are easy to measure and directly tied to performance goals.

Patients, however, begin making healthcare decisions long before they schedule care. They research hospitals, evaluate physicians, read reviews, investigate symptoms, and look for evidence of quality as they narrow their options. Search engines, healthcare websites, physician directories, review platforms, and AI-powered tools have become common starting points in this process, with eMarketer’s 2025 Healthcare Consumer research finding that 82.2% of consumers begin their online medical research on search engines.

By the time a patient reaches a scheduling link, many of the decisions that influence where they receive care have already been made. Organizations that are visible during these moments of consideration are often the ones that earn patient trust and ultimately win the appointment. This shift is already changing hospital marketing strategies, requiring health systems to engage consumers earlier in their decision making process.

The Four Moments That Shape Modern Patient Acquisition

Most patients do not move directly from awareness to scheduling. Instead, they make a series of decisions first: which hospital to consider, which physician to trust, what type of care they need, and whether the option in front of them feels credible.

These decisions do not always happen in the same order, but they have a shared effect. They shape the shortlist of organizations and physicians a patient is willing to consider.

Hospital Selection: Earning a Place on the Short List

For many consumers, the healthcare journey begins with a broad question: Where should I go?

Searches such as “best hospital near me,” “top hospitals for heart surgery,” and “hospital reviews” reflect a desire to reduce uncertainty before committing to care. Rather than defaulting to the nearest facility, many patients compare organizations based on reputation, specialty recognition, patient reviews, ratings, and evidence of experience treating their condition.

This evaluation may begin well before treatment is needed. A patient researching orthopedic surgery may spend weeks comparing options before scheduling a consultation. Someone managing a chronic condition may take even longer to identify the right care team.

For healthcare marketers, the implication is straightforward: if an organization is absent during the evaluation stage, it may never become part of the patient’s shortlist. Doctor profiles, quality recognitions, ratings, and condition-specific information all help form perception before a consumer reaches a health system’s website. For modern hospital marketing, visibility during this evaluation stage is just as important as the organization’s own website.

Doctor Selection: The Decision That Often Determines Destination

Consumers search for specialists, read reviews, compare credentials, and look for details that help them understand a doctor’s expertise and approach to care. They are evaluating clinical qualifications, but they are also looking for personal fit, practical access, and reassurance from other patients.

According to Healthgrades research conducted in 2025, 92% of patients use online reviews at least occasionally when researching a new doctor or healthcare professional.¹ Reviews help patients understand how others experienced care, while profile information, areas of expertise, accepted insurance plans, and appointment availability provide practical context for decision making.

For many service lines, the physician relationship strongly influences where care is delivered. A patient who identifies the right cardiologist, orthopedist, or oncologist often follows that physician into a specific health system. That makes physician discoverability an important part of increasing patient volume, especially when patients are comparing options outside a health system’s owned channels.

Care Navigation: Helping Patients Determine Where to Go Next

Not every healthcare search begins with a hospital or physician in mind. In many cases, patients start with a symptom, a concern, or a question about what they are experiencing. Searches such as “who should I see for back pain,” “urgent care versus primary care,” and “when should I see a doctor” often come from consumers who recognize that something may require medical attention but do not know what type of care is appropriate.

These moments can signal strong intent because the patient is trying to determine a next step. The problem is that healthcare can be difficult to navigate. Patients may not know which specialty treats their symptoms, how urgent their situation is, or which care setting makes the most sense.

Organizations that provide clear, trustworthy guidance can help patients move from uncertainty toward action. Educational content, condition-based resources, physician matching tools, and symptom-related guidance can make the path to appropriate care easier to understand. Research from RVO Health’s HL & HG Media Online Health Landscape Survey, cited in the Fullspan Health white paper, supports this: It found that 83% of consumers are looking for practical next steps rather than additional content to read.² For patient acquisition, this distinction matters. Helpful guidance can encourage patients to continue their care journey with the organization that provided it.

Quality Signals: Trust Is the Final Gatekeeper

Even after patients identify a hospital, physician, or treatment option they are considering, many continue researching before making a final decision. At this stage, they are looking for reassurance.

Searches for hospital ratings, quality awards, patient reviews, outcomes data, and specialty rankings help consumers confirm that their choice is supported by strong patient experiences and credible evidence of quality. Those trust signals matter because healthcare decisions can feel deeply personal and carry significant consequences. Reviews offer insight into patient experience, while awards, ratings, and quality recognitions provide independent signals that an organization delivers strong outcomes.

For healthcare marketers, quality and reputation are closely tied to increasing patient volume. Patients encounter these signals across search results, healthcare marketplaces, review platforms, and health system websites. Organizations that communicate quality through trusted external signals are better positioned to stand out as consumers compare options and decide which health system to trust.

Turning Healthcare Discovery Into Patient Acquisition With Healthgrades

Patients make a series of decisions before they schedule care. Healthgrades helps healthcare organizations engage consumers throughout that journey, from early research to appointment booking.

With hundreds of millions of annual consumer visits, Healthgrades is the largest healthcare marketplace of its kind. Visitors actively compare care options, with 85% viewing two or more physician profiles during each visit. Healthgrades also includes more than 4.5 million active, appointable healthcare professionals and more than 16 million Verified Patient Experience Scores, giving consumers trusted information as they evaluate where to receive care.

Healthgrades solutions are designed to support the moments that shape patient acquisition.

For Health Systems

• Sponsored Profiles: Ensure your physicians and service lines are prominently visible when patients are actively researching care options. With premium placement, branded physician profiles, and clear calls to action, your health system appears prominently when consumers are actively comparing care options, helping you connect with high-intent patients during the consideration stage.
• Brand Solutions: Amplify your hospital advertising campaigns by reaching high-intent healthcare consumers across digital channels with Healthgrades Audience Intelligence. Extend your health system’s reach across Healthgrades, CTV, web, video, and audio, helping you stay visible as patients research symptoms, conditions, treatments, and care options.
• Online Appointment Scheduling (OAS): Reduce friction once patients have made their decision by allowing them to book directly from physician profiles. Fully integrated with your existing EMR, Online Appointment Scheduling supports real-time scheduling, cancellations, and rescheduling, helping patients move seamlessly from research to care.
• Quality Awards: Showcase your hospital’s clinical excellence by bringing national and specialty recognitions to the forefront of your brand. From award-winning care to data-backed outcomes, Quality Awards help differentiate your organization and reinforce trust as patients compare hospitals and evaluate where to seek care.

For Physicians and Other Healthcare Professionals

Your Healthgrades profile is often one of the first places patients learn about your background, expertise, and approach to care. Claiming and optimizing your free profile helps ensure patients can easily find accurate information about your practice, credentials, and patient reviews while they are actively evaluating care options.

Our Elevated Profiles solution highlights your areas of expertise, removes competitor and consumer ads, and adds a direct scheduling link. These enhancements help physicians stand out during the consideration stage while creating a more seamless experience for patients as they move from researching doctors to booking an appointment.

Patient acquisition begins long before an appointment is scheduled. By helping organizations increase visibility, build trust, and reduce friction throughout the decision-making process, Healthgrades helps turn early consumer research into meaningful relationships with care.

Contact us to learn how Healthgrades can help your organization reach patients during the moments that matter most.

¹Reviews and Online Appointment Scheduling survey, Healthgrades Study using Suzy Online Survey Platform, April-May 2025, n=1089) 

²RVO Health, HL & HG Media Online Health Landscape Survey, cited in Fullspan Health white paper, Healthcare Has an Action Gap: Here’s What’s Driving It, and How to Close It.