A key part of a potential patient’s research process is reading reviews from past patients. They want to know what your patient experience is like so that they can compare you to other medical practices and make an informed decision on who can provide them with the best care. 

The reviews themselves are just one part of the equation, though. Prospective patients are also going to consider whether you care enough to respond to these reviews and take their concerns seriously.

The following guide walks you through how to respond to patient reviews. We look specifically at negative reviews, giving you best practices on how to craft a professional, respectful reply. We even provide you with a template to use as a starting point for future review responses.

Importance of Online Patient Reviews

Your online reputation encompasses every mention of your medical practice on the internet. Patient reviews on Yelp, Google Business Profile, Zocdoc, and other directories play a major role in shaping that reputation, which is why it’s essential to actively request, monitor, and respond to them. Here are a few additional benefits of establishing a strong online reputation through patient reviews.

Acts as Social Proof

Your reviews show real-world examples of the medical care you provide. This makes potential patients feel more comfortable choosing your practice because they know other patients have had positive experiences with you.

Offers a Competitive Advantage

Potential patients can compare your reviews to the reviews of other practices near you with similar medical services. Assuming you have a more established online reputation with more positive reviews, patients are more likely to book an appointment with you.

Serves as Marketing Content

You can repurpose your online reviews on other marketing channels to showcase your positive patient experience to a wider audience. For example, you can add a carousel of positive reviews to the homepage of your website or highlight a testimonial in a Facebook post.

Improves Search Rankings

Reputation is a key factor Google uses to determine where your website will rank in search results. If you have a lot of positive reviews, your practice has a better chance of ranking on Google, putting you in front of more potential patients.

Identifies Areas for Improvement

Reviews provide insights into how well you’re caring for your patients, so take the time to read every single one you receive. Note your strengths so that you know what to keep doing, but also identify your weaknesses so that you can improve and better help the next patient.

Drives Patient Retention

Online reviews mostly help with acquisition by building a reputation that attracts new patients. However, if you respond to your reviews and make improvements to your patient experience based on the feedback in them, then you can also drive loyalty and retention with your current patients.

Why Responding to Online Reviews Matters

Responding to patient reviews builds trust, demonstrates professionalism, and reassures current and prospective patients that their concerns and experiences matter. Thoughtful responses can also help highlight your commitment to quality care and strengthen your patient relationships over time.

It’s inevitable that some of the reviews patients leave you will be negative. While it’s important to reply to all reviews, your responses to the negative ones say a lot about your character and how willing you are to receive constructive feedback and make changes accordingly.

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How To Respond to Negative Online Reviews

Responding to negative reviews can be challenging. When you take pride in your work, it’s natural to struggle with not taking feedback personally. On top of that, you also have HIPAA and legal requirements to consider. The following best practices will set you up to craft a professional, HIPAA-compliant response for every review you get.

Respond in a Timely Manner

There’s a happy medium for how quickly you should respond to a new negative review. You don’t want to leave a patient hanging for weeks, but you don’t want to respond immediately when your emotions are running high either. Give it a day or two to think about what the patient said, and then draft a thoughtful response.

Use a Polite, Professional Tone

Even if you don’t agree with a patient’s feedback, be respectful and professional in your response, not defensive and angry. This is a lot easier to do if you take a breather before replying, which is why we recommend waiting a couple of days. Try to remember that one bad review in a sea of positive ones isn’t going to destroy your reputation, but responding poorly could.

Keep HIPAA Guidelines in Mind

The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) protects private medical information by setting guidelines for what you can and cannot share about your patients in a public forum. Here are some tips to remember as you craft a review response to ensure you don’t violate these guidelines:

• Don’t confirm that the patient was seen at your practice.
• Don’t mention their diagnosis, treatment plan, or other specific details related to their medical history.
• Don’t say their name, even if they provide it in their review.

In general, it’s best to keep your response short and to the point. The more you try to explain, the more likely you are to give away personal information and violate HIPAA guidelines.

Thank the Patient for the Feedback

Start your reply by thanking the patient. Don’t thank them for visiting your practice because that’s revealing that they’re a patient, which is a HIPAA violation. But you can thank them for taking the time to provide their feedback. After all, they might be informing you about an issue of which you weren’t previously aware.

Acknowledge the Patient’s Concerns

The main reason a patient leaves a negative review is because they want to feel heard, so make sure your reply acknowledges their concerns. Be sure not to apologize for the specific action or service the patient mentions, as this could be seen as admitting fault and put you at risk if they decide to take legal action. Instead, keep it generic by saying you’re sorry that they had a bad experience.

Offer To Discuss the Matter Offline

Don’t try to hash out a dispute in your reply—that would most likely result in a HIPAA violation. Instead, provide your practice’s phone number and email address, and offer to discuss the matter with them directly. If you can determine the patient’s identity based on their review, you can be proactive and call or email them first.

Take the Feedback to Heart

As the dust settles on the review and your reply, try to be objective and consider whether the patient raised legitimate concerns. If so, make changes to how your practice operates so that you can provide a better experience for the next patient. If you’re unsure if a concern warrants action, wait to see if you receive further comments about it. Repeated complaints about the same thing may indicate that a change is necessary.

Sample Response Template for Bad Reviews

Below is a template we put together to give you an idea of what review responses should look like. We recommend creating a template similar to this one that you use for every one of your responses. This saves you from having to craft a new message every time and helps you maintain a professional tone instead of responding with emotion.

If you’re concerned about every response looking the same, you can create different versions based on the types of concerns patients might mention in their reviews. For example, you can have separate templates for complaints about incorrect billing, long wait times, rushed appointments, and more.

Here is our generic sample template:

“Thank you for taking the time to leave us a review. We are sorry to hear that your experience did not meet your expectations.

Due to privacy regulations, we cannot address specific concerns publicly, but we would welcome the opportunity to speak with you directly to better understand your experience and work toward a resolution. Please feel free to contact our practice at [phone number] or [email address] to discuss the matter further.”

Final Thoughts

Responding to negative patient reviews can set you apart from other medical practices. Rather than ignoring them, see them as an opportunity to learn, grow, and strengthen your overall reputation. For help with managing patient reviews—as well as optimizing directory profiles on review sites—contact Officite to learn more about our Reputation Management service.