2018 Patients’ Choice Awards Announced

Millions of patients each year share their healthcare experiences in online communities, including vitals.com. For Vitals, these reviews are analyzed along with quality measures to recognize the top 5% of providers across the country. Not only do these reviews recognize outstanding patient care but they also drive continuous improvement for practices like Sound Family Medicine. According a 2014 study in the Journal of the American Medical Association, 59% of patients say provider rating sites are “somewhat” or “very” important, and 37% of online review users say they avoided a provider with bad ratings. If you’re a patient at Sound Family Medicine, you may have received a survey from us asking about your visit. Listening to your experience helps to drive our focus in how we deliver care to our best ability. As good listeners, we often look to review sites such as Google, Facebook and vitals.com to read about our patient’s experiences. During our last review, we were thrilled to see that vitals.com had announced their 2018 provider awards. We are proud to share that 6 of our providers were recognized again this year!

Dr. Darin Blackburn (Sunrise)

Dr. Blackburn was first recognized in 2014 with the Compassionate Doctor Recognition. In 2018, he was also awarded with the Patients’ Choice and On-Time Doctor Awards.

Dr. Susan McDonald (Bonney Lake)

Dr. McDonald received the Patient’s Choice Award in 2011 and 2014-2018. She’s also been recognized by vitals.com with the Compassionate Doctor Recognition during those same years which is measured by responses to the provider’s bedside manner and overall ratings.

Dr. Stacy Merrifield (Bonney Lake and Sunrise)

Dr. Merrifield has received the Patient’s Choice Award every year since 2015. In 2016 and 2017, she was also received the Compassionate Doctor Recognition. The On-Time Doctor Award was also given 2016-2018.

Dr. Kevin Taggart (Puyallup)

Dr. Kevin Taggart was also recognized by patients on vitals.com. He received the Patients’ Choice Award 2016-2018 and Compassionate Doctor Recognition in 2011-2013 and 2015-2018. This year he also received the On-Time Doctor Award. In 2014, he was named one of the top 10 doctors in Puyallup for family practice.

Dr. Marc Aversa (Puyallup) & Dr. Daniel Wells (Puyallup)

Vitals.com awarded Dr. Aversa and Dr. Wells Bridges to Excellence Physician Office Systems Recognition Program Award for their work in using information systems to enhance the quality of care Sound Family Medicine delivers to our patients. Additionally, they were recognized as a NCQA Patient-Centered Medical Home focused on organizing primary care that emphasizes care coordination and communication. For more information on vitals.com and the Patient’s Choice Awards, please visit their website.