Negative online reviews are unfortunately a recurring part of hospice reputation management, regardless of quality of care. The family member leaving an angry one-star update every few days isn’t just a disgruntled customer: They may be experiencing prolonged grief disorder, a diagnosable clinical condition that manifests as an inability to adapt to loss over time.
In this episode, Yelena Zatulovsky – a clinical bioethicist and VP of patient experience at AccentCare, brings a deeply informed clinical lens to what hospice marketing and operations teams are often left to navigate alone. Drawing on William Worden’s Tasks of Mourning, she walks through how hospice teams can use a communication framework rooted in grief theory to de-escalate conflict, validate complex family dynamics, and bring frustrated families to a more supported place, even when the review has already been posted.
Jordan Dockery, Transcend’s manager of digital strategy, picks up the thread with hard-won practical guidance: Why a response playbook and escalation chart are non-negotiable, how to respond with genuine empathy while staying fully HIPAA-compliant, and why the copy-paste response approach is quietly eroding your reputation with future families and referral partners who are reading every word.
