Question 1

A patient left a review with false claims. Can we correct the record?

Accepted Answer

Not publicly, and this is where US practices most often create serious exposure for themselves. The impulse is entirely understandable — the review misstates what happened and the facts are in the chart. But confirming the person was a patient, referencing what treatment occurred, or disputing their account of a visit are all disclosures of protected health information, and the fact that the reviewer disclosed it first does not release your obligation. Practices have faced enforcement action and financial penalties for precisely this pattern, in cases that began exactly this way. What you can do is respond in a manner that signals professionalism to the far larger audience of prospective patients reading it: thank them for the feedback, state your general standard of care, and invite them to contact a named person privately. Then pursue it offline, where you can speak freely with the individual. If a review genuinely violates platform policy — fabricated, from a competitor, or containing prohibited content — the correct route is a removal request to the platform rather than a public rebuttal.

Question 2

Can we ask only our happy patients to leave reviews?

Accepted Answer

No. That practice is called review gating and the FTC treats it as deceptive, as part of an increasingly firm position on review manipulation generally — including gating, suppressing negative reviews and incentivising positive ones. It also violates Google's policies and can result in review removal or action against the profile. The mechanism practices typically use is a survey that asks about satisfaction first and routes only the positive respondents onward to a public review link, which is exactly the pattern regulators have targeted. What is permitted, and works better anyway, is asking every patient consistently while removing friction: a request sent shortly after the visit while the experience is fresh, by text or email according to preference, with a one-tap link. A practice that asks everyone will accumulate the occasional critical review, and that is genuinely fine — a flawless five-star profile with no dissent reads as manufactured to modern patients, whereas a strong average with a few measured critical reviews and thoughtful replies reads as real.

Question 3

Which review platforms matter most for a US practice?

Accepted Answer

Google matters most by a clear margin, because it feeds both the map pack and the knowledge panel that surface for practice and provider name searches, and because it is where the largest share of patients look first. After that it depends on your specialty and payer mix. Healthgrades and Vitals carry real weight in provider research, particularly among insured patients researching a specialist before booking, and both rank well for named-physician searches — meaning a sparse profile there can undercut you even when your own site and Google presence are strong. Zocdoc matters where you participate, because its reviews are tied to verified bookings and it functions as an acquisition channel rather than only a reputation surface. Yelp deserves a specific note: it is influential in some metros and categories, but it explicitly prohibits soliciting reviews and its filter aggressively suppresses anything it judges to have been solicited, so the strategy there is claiming and maintaining the profile rather than driving volume to it.

Question 4

What does review management for clinics cost in the US?

Accepted Answer

We quote clients in the US in USD. As a guide, Google Business Profile management starts around USD 60 per month, SEO publishing around USD 90 per month, and full-service retainers from about USD 280 per month depending on scope. Those figures are converted from our India list at an indicative rate and include the uplift for servicing an account across timezones, currencies and a different regulatory regime; your quote is confirmed in writing after the free audit. Where this service involves paid media, that budget sits outside our fee — in the US treatment-intent clicks typically run $8–45. Cosmetic surgery and dental implant terms sit at the top of that range and can spike well past it in Manhattan, LA and Miami. Nothing survives that pricing without a conversion path already proven organically.

Question 5

How long until we see results in the US?

Accepted Answer

The first movement — profile views, calls, direction requests — usually shows inside 30 days, because the earliest wins come from fixing what is already indexed rather than waiting for Google to re-evaluate new pages. Meaningful ranking and pipeline change typically lands between 60 and 90 days. Competition in the US is extreme, so we sequence the work to produce early traction on winnable, specific searches while the harder head terms build over two to three quarters. We report monthly against patient actions — calls, enquiries, booked consultations — not against impressions.

Review Management for Clinics in the US

The same service, run for this market.

The plays that work in the US.

Compliant response templates

Ungated review generation

Multi-platform coverage

Provider-level reputation

What the rules mean for review management for clinics.