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Patient Acquisition 12 min read

Most Patients Decide Before They Call. Here Is What They Look at First.

A patient’s decision often begins with a symptom search, not a phone call. Here is what patients evaluate before they contact a healthcare practice.

Illustration of a patient moving from symptom search through evaluation to a care decision

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The direct answer

What does “patients decide before they call” mean? Patients often finish much of their research before speaking with anyone at the practice. In a 2024 survey of 1,000 U.S. healthcare consumers, nearly 70% went online the last time they searched for care, and 52% consulted at least three online resources.1 The practice is being evaluated well before the first conversation takes place.

Most practices still measure patient acquisition from the first phone call or form fill. For patients, the decision usually starts earlier: with a symptom search, a comparison across listings and a quiet judgment about whether your practice looks credible, accessible and worth contacting.

Five stages before the call

Every patient path is different, but most pre-appointment research answers the same five questions.

  1. 1

    What is happening to me?

    Symptom search and education

  2. 2

    Who is qualified to help me?

    Care pathway and expertise

  3. 3

    Can I trust this practice?

    Reviews and consistency

  4. 4

    Can I receive care here?

    Insurance, cost and availability

  5. 5

    What happens when I contact you?

    Calls, scheduling and response

Patients may repeat or skip steps, but these five questions shape most pre-call research.1

One patient’s journey

Those five stages are easier to see in a real search pattern. Elena wakes with jaw pain. She does not look for a specialist by name. She searches for the problem, then the right type of care, then compares practices nearby.

Practice view The journey appears to start when the phone rings.
Patient view The journey started at the first symptom search.
Illustrative example, not a specific research participant.

What patients weigh before calling

Elena’s path is not unusual. In the 2024 Kyruus survey, patients rated these factors as extremely or very important when choosing care:1

Share of U.S. healthcare consumers rating each factor extremely or very important. Expertise and review signals both shape selection before the call.34

Why a generic website falls short

Stages 1 and 2 fail quickly when a site sounds like every other practice. Brochure language does not answer the questions that brought the patient there.2

Strong healthcare content demonstrates expertise through explanation, not slogans.

Your website is only one touchpoint

Even a strong website is not enough on its own. Patients compare information across search, directories, reviews and health-plan tools before they call.5

Where patients look while researching care. Your own website is often not the first or only source.1

When your listings disagree

That cross-checking only works in your favor if the details match. Conflicting hours, clinicians, services or contact information give patients a reason to pause or choose another practice.

Common mismatches patients notice

Each inconsistency adds friction before the patient ever picks up the phone.1

One connected system

Patients do not experience your article, listings, reviews, booking flow and phone response as separate departments. They experience them as one practice. When one step breaks, trust built earlier can disappear.

Acquisition is not a campaign handoff. It is one connected path from first search to booked visit.

What practices can do

The fix is not more isolated marketing. It is making each stage easier to understand, trust and act on before the patient calls.

These actions map directly to the five pre-call stages above.

The call is not the beginning

By the time someone phones, they have already decided whether your practice understands the problem, looks credible, appears accessible and feels worth the effort. The call is the final test of everything that came before it. The work starts at the first search, not the first ring.

Frequently asked questions

Do patients really research healthcare providers before calling?

Yes. In a 2024 survey of 1,000 U.S. healthcare consumers, nearly 70% went online the last time they searched for care, and 52% consulted at least three online resources during the process.1

What do patients look at when choosing a healthcare provider?

Important factors include insurance acceptance, relevant clinical expertise, appointment availability, expected cost, online ratings and reviews, location and scheduling options. Their relative importance varies according to the patient, specialty and type of care needed.1

How important are online patient reviews?

In the Kyruus survey, 71% of consumers rated the quality of online ratings and reviews as extremely or very important. Experimental research also indicates that different types of physician ratings can affect willingness to choose a provider. Reviews should be interpreted as patient-experience signals rather than complete measures of clinical quality.13

Does educational content help a practice acquire patients?

Educational content can help patients understand their symptoms, identify an appropriate form of care and assess whether a practice appears relevant and credible. It cannot guarantee an appointment, and it should not diagnose individual readers or make unsupported treatment claims.

What is the biggest mistake practices make before the patient calls?

A common mistake is treating each digital touchpoint separately. Patients experience the website, reviews, insurance information, listings, scheduling process and phone response as one connected journey. Inaccurate or inconsistent information at any stage can cause them to delay care or choose another option.1

About Glace

Glace helps independent healthcare practices build a connected path from patient discovery to booked appointment, with marketing, intake and operations working as one system.

Research notes

The principal consumer figures in this article come from a 2024 survey of 1,000 U.S. residents conducted by Wakefield Research on behalf of Kyruus Health. Because this was an industry-sponsored survey, its findings should be interpreted alongside independent and peer-reviewed research rather than treated as a definitive census of all U.S. patients.1

The review analysis cited above was a cross-sectional study of reviews from one public platform. It provides large-scale evidence about themes in patient narratives but does not establish that ratings represent objective clinical quality.4

The physician-rating experiment measured perceptions and stated willingness within a simulated online environment. It strengthens the argument that ratings can influence selection, but it did not measure every real-world factor involved in an actual appointment decision.3

References

  1. Kyruus Health. 2024 Care Access Benchmark Report for Healthcare Organizations. https://info.kyruushealth.com/hubfs/1.%20Resources/2024%20Care%20Access%20Benchmark%20Report%20for%20Healthcare%20Organizations.pdf
  2. National Library of Medicine / PubMed Central. Research review on online health-information seeking and patient outcomes. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC8874798/
  3. Journal of Medical Internet Research. Randomized online experiment examining how physician technical-skill and interpersonal-skill ratings influence provider selection. https://www.jmir.org/2019/6/e11188/
  4. JAMA Network Open. Study analyzing themes across online reviews of U.S. healthcare facilities. https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamanetworkopen/fullarticle/2837131
  5. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. Guidance on choosing a doctor or healthcare service. https://effectivehealthcare.ahrq.gov/health-topics/choosing-doctor-or-health-care-service