Remove negative doctor reviews that break platform rules

Yes, if the reply does not confirm that the reviewer is or was a patient. HIPAA treats the fact that a person received care from you, and what they paid, as protected health information. A general reply speaks only about the practice, for example: “We take every concern seriously. Please call our practice manager at the main number.” Leave out any visit, date, diagnosis or balance. HIPAA binds covered entities, such as a provider that bills insurance electronically, so a cash-only med spa should ask its counsel whether it is one. Addiction treatment has a stricter rule: under 42 CFR Part 2, a facility publicly known for providing only substance use disorder care may acknowledge that someone is a patient only with written consent or a court order.

Healthgrades is not one of the platforms on our site, so this answer describes Healthgrades’ own process. Flag the review on Healthgrades, and its team checks it again against the Community Review Guidelines. Those guidelines bar personal attacks and name-calling, misleading or fraudulent content, impersonation, personal information such as a full name or phone number, and any mention of legal matters or proceedings. Healthgrades says doctors cannot pay to remove a negative review. You can also reply from a Healthgrades Pro account in up to 500 characters, and Healthgrades checks the reply before it goes live.

Zocdoc posts reviews only from patients who booked through it and whom the practice marked as attended, up to 120 days after the appointment. A provider disputes a review by email to Zocdoc’s trust and safety team, up to one year after the review was approved. WebMD and Vitals.com show the same provider directory. Providers cannot remove or edit reviews there; a review concern goes to WebMD Customer Care with your NPI, your profile link and the review date, and WebMD removes only reviews that go against its guidelines.

A review is not a board complaint; a patient who wants the board to act files a complaint with that state’s board. Your reply is a different matter. The Federation of State Medical Boards’ 2019 policy on social media lists “online violations of patient confidentiality” and “online derogatory remarks regarding a patient” among conduct boards can discipline, from a letter of concern up to license revocation. The same policy says reviews on sites such as Healthgrades “can contain inaccuracies” and advises against defensive or uncivil replies. Rules differ by state. This is general information, not legal advice.

Removal and monitoring, not marketing. We file the reviews you choose with the platform under its own policy, and the platform decides each one. Each Google Business Profile you connect is read about once a day, and one daily email lists new 1 and 2 star reviews. You do not send us patient records; the work uses the public review and your profile. We do not write, buy or collect reviews, contact reviewers, or ask a platform who a reviewer is. If your new-patient forms bar patients from posting reviews, the Consumer Review Fairness Act makes that clause illegal.

You pay for the ones that come down. The platform decides on each review, and a review it keeps up shows as Could not be removed in your TrustOS portal.