Online reviews play a significant role in how healthcare providers are evaluated by patients, families, and referral partners. These reviews appear across multiple platforms and are written by individuals with varying perspectives and relationships to the organization.
Understanding how healthcare reviews work and how review platforms evaluate authenticity is critical for maintaining accurate public representation and compliance. Follow the link for a deeper dive into FTC Compliance or visit FTC Compliance Enforcement to see how agencies are enforcing new and existing rules.
Why Online Reviews Matter for Healthcare Providers
Online reviews do far more than shape public opinion — they have real impact on healthcare organizations’ success and credibility. For patients and families, online feedback has become a trusted source of information when choosing providers, facilities, and services. For healthcare leaders, review activity influences key areas such as referrals, patient admissions, community reputation, and even regulatory attention.
Because reviews are public and often surfaced in search results and directory listings, patterns in review activity can affect how providers are perceived and discovered online. This makes reputation management a central part of modern healthcare operations, not just a marketing concern.
How Healthcare Reviews Differ From Other Industries
Healthcare reviews often reflect emotionally charged experiences, written by patients or family members during or after periods of vulnerability. Reviews may reference clinical outcomes, communication quality, staffing, or facility conditions.
Unlike other industries, healthcare reviews may also be influenced by employees, contractors, or individuals with material connections to the organization, increasing the need for disclosure and transparency.
Review Platforms and Policy Enforcement
Public healthcare reviews commonly appear on platforms such as Google, Facebook, and industry-specific directories. Each platform maintains policies governing review authenticity, disclosure, and solicitation practices.
While individual review platforms maintain their own policies on review authenticity, the FTC’s federal rule on the use of consumer reviews and testimonials carries legal force across platforms and prohibits practices that misrepresent reviewer identity or experience. See FTC’s final rule banning fake reviews and testimonials.
Platforms rely on automated systems and pattern analysis to identify suspicious activity, including insider reviews, coordinated posting, or selective solicitation.
Practices That Create Platform and Compliance Risk
- Encouraging reviews only after positive interactions
- Staff-driven review campaigns
- Incentivizing reviews without disclosure
- Presenting insider feedback as patient experience
- Attempting to remove or suppress legitimate negative reviews
The FTC’s guidance explains that certain insider review practices and incentivized review conditions may be considered deceptive and unfair conduct, subject to enforcement under the new rule. See FTC’s Consumer Reviews and Testimonials Rule: Questions & Answers.
Related Guidance
Further Reading | FTC Official Sources
- Rule on the Use of Consumer Reviews and Testimonials – Full federal register text of the rule (FTC legal library)
- FTC’s final rule banning fake reviews and testimonials – Federal Trade Commission press release on the rule (ftc.gov)
- FTC’s Consumer Reviews and Testimonials Rule: Questions & Answers – FTC guidance on applying the rule to deceptive or unfair review practices (ftc.gov)