The Best Online Reputation Management Companies for Doctors and Healthcare Practices

Why Reputation Work for a Medical Practice Is Different

A doctor cannot reply to a review the way a restaurant can. Privacy law limits what you may say, and patients often search before they book.

Most new patients check a practice online before they call. They read reviews, look at your profile on health directories and search your name. A few harsh reviews or one old article can cost you bookings you will never know you lost.

The trouble is that the usual advice, reply to every review and explain your side, can get a practice into legal trouble. A reply that confirms someone is a patient, or mentions their care, can be a privacy violation even when the review is unfair. That is the main thing that sets this list apart from a list for a hotel or a plumber.

A hospital incident needs more than review replies, as the guide to crisis communications for hospitals explains.

HIPAA and Replying to Patient Reviews

The HIPAA Privacy Rule bars a covered practice from sharing protected health information unless the rule allows it or the patient authorizes it in writing. A public reply to a review is not an exception.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services states the basic rule in its summary of the Privacy Rule. A covered entity may not use or disclose protected health information, except as the rule permits or requires, or as the patient authorizes in writing. Even where a disclosure is allowed, the entity must limit it to the minimum needed.

This is not a theory. HHS has announced a settlement with a dental practice after the practice answered patient reviews on a public review page and revealed patient health details. HHS also found the practice had no policy for social media. The HHS statement at the time said social media is not the place for providers to discuss a patient's care. The link is in the sources below.

We are not your lawyer, and this page is not legal advice. Ask your compliance officer or counsel to write your reply policy. Use the points below as a starting list for that conversation.

A good reputation firm knows this and works inside it. If a vendor offers to post detailed rebuttals for you, that is a warning sign, not a service. If a vendor would handle patient information for you at all, ask your compliance lead whether HIPAA requires a written business associate agreement first.

Lawyers face a similar confidentiality problem when they reply to reviews, and the page on reputation management companies for law firms covers it.

What a Firm Can Do for a Practice, and What Nobody Can

Every promise has a limit. A firm that states both is giving you the useful half of the picture.

The last item is a hard limit. Writing or buying reviews that misrepresent a real experience puts a practice at risk, and platforms remove them. Staff and family members posting reviews of the practice without disclosing the connection causes the same trouble.

The four firms with a dedicated review removal page are compared in the best Google review removal services.

Questions to Ask a Firm Before You Share Anything

Ask these on the first call, before you name a patient or describe a case. The answers will sort the firms quickly.

• Will you ever need access to patient names, contact lists or records, and if so, under what written terms?
• How do you respond to reviews that name a patient, and will anyone reply for me in public?
• Which of my problems can be reported under a platform's published rules, and which cannot?
• How are you paid, and what does the contract say if nothing changes?
• Who works on my account, where are they, and how long do you keep my files?
• Will you ever write, buy or post reviews for my practice?

Our general list is longer. See questions to ask any reputation firm.

If patient data is exposed, see the guide to data breach communication.

Groups, Clinics and Many Locations

A group has more profiles, more reviewers and more people who might reply. The risk of one bad reply rises with each of them.

With ten providers and four locations, nobody knows who answered what. Pick one owner for replies, one written policy and one place where every new review is logged. Check each provider's name on the major directories every quarter. Profiles go stale when a provider moves, and an out-of-date profile can look like a problem even when it is only neglect.

Tools help here more than firms do. A firm is for the review that breaks a rule or the article that will not go away.

Multi-location operators outside healthcare can compare the same firms in the best business reputation management agencies.