Healthgrades

Healthgrades.com manipulates reviews in the favor of Doctors and according to several online articles, it seems to be a business in promotion. This violates the website's own claim that they are fair. The response from the customer service was the removal of reviews was due to malicious activities, though they fail to define their criteria for such categorization. Falsehood rules in that site. Do not visit this site.

Complaint: [redacted] I am rejecting this response because: I never misused the siteMy profile is being held hostage by Healthgrades, and you are censoring what a doctor can say to defend his practice against bogus and defamatory responsesYour response is unacceptable and untrueI would like to escalate this above [redacted] ***; she was never helpful, and never returned phone calls or emails on multiple occasionsShe has only prolonged and complicated what at first was a simple matter Sincerely, [redacted] ***

Dear [redacted] ***, MD Thank you for your rebuttal In emails sent by you to Healthgrades, you specifically state: “Comment: Hello: I recently saw a patient who on 9/14/who threatened me physically because I wouldn't prescribe pain medications, "***" who has also posted a negative comment on Healthgrades and I would like his comment removedIt is a negative comment from 9/14/His comment is unjust and unfoundedI understand not all patient's can be happy with my service but to have a patient write negative reviews about me because I would not prescribe narcotics is wrongPlease take that review downThank you.” Given your emails to Healthgrades and that you identified this person as a patient, I am unable to remove the comment As we have communicated before, you may post a response to the comment left by your patientI hope this answer clarifies Healthgrades position Respectfully, [redacted] Healthgrades Operating Company, Inc

Complaint: I am rejecting this response because:It does no properly address my concern for defamation and degradation of my professional reputation based on a sole patient's opinon Although my practice information is publicly available! I have never given the health grade to freely display someone's personal opinion about myself This website is accessible by my friends and family, including my children I have no obligation to comply with their rules and will not use their website as a battle ground with my patients This website is morally wrong way to make money Will fight this to the end Sincerely, [redacted] **

Initial Business Response / [redacted] (1000, 6, 2015/06/05) */ [redacted] 's office administrator notified Healthgrades of the address issue on 5/27/We appreciated her letting us know of the error in the dataWe are sorry and never intended to publish a residential addressOne of the public data sources that Healthgrades uses lists this residential address as your business practice addressHealthgrades' intent is to collect the most accurate and complete information for all provider profilesOn 5/28/Healthgrades updated the profile and emailed his office administrator that the profile had been updated on our consumer sitePlease let us know if we may further assist Regards, [redacted] Healthgrades Operating Company, Inc

Dear [redacted] ,I thank you for your rebuttal.The surveys I refer to (ones done in connection with your email/phone/text) date back to to present We didn’t ‘just discover them’ as your rebuttal indicates ~ rather, we tend to give a provider the benefit of doubt The reason I mentioned them is because of the point you were driving.Again, the subject comment that is in question meets Healthgrades criteria for display This subject comment has passed human auditor reviews, a survey investigation and finally been escalated to the review committee and each time has passed the criteria for display Accordingly, our business rules prohibit us from removing any such survey/comment from our site We remind you that survey submissions at healthgrades.com represent the individual opinions of patients and are aggregated for the benefit of consumers Finally, we allow providers to respond to surveys through our free provider portal https://update.healthgrades.com/account/si You have an established account In order to post a response, log into your account and click on ‘Your Voice’ in the left hand rail Then select ‘response to patient surveys’.Respectfully, [redacted] Healthgrades Operating Company, Inc

Dear [redacted] ** Thank you for your rebuttal I am sorry you are dissatisfied however our conclusions remain the same, we will not remove publicly available information from our website The phone number listed is publicly available through *** I am happy to update this for you if you will send me the phone number Also there are many other websites who get information from [redacted] so it would be best to correct this at the sourceAgain, I am most happy to update the phone number if you send me the correct one Finally, I am happy to speak to the attorney general of GA I took a screen shot of the publicly available data where the phone number ###-###-#### came from.Regards, [redacted] ***Healthgrades Operating Company, Inc

Dear [redacted] **Thank you for contacting Healthgrades via the Revdex.com.Healthgrades provides information on healthcare providers as a free service to consumers, patients and other healthcare professionals In its provision of this service, Healthgrades aggregates information related to provider practices from publicly available sources Because you are a practicing provider and the published information regarding your practice is publicly available and of interest to the general public, Healthgrades’ policies prohibit me from completely removing this information from our website As you know, Healthgrades operates a website which provides information on healthcare providers as a free service to consumers, patients and other healthcare professionals In its provision of this service, Healthgrades aggregates information related to provider practices from publicly available sources and accepts user comments Healthgrades is an objective source and does not block content from specific individuals at the request of 3rd partiesUpon review of the survey data we have determined that the survey comment meets Healthgrades criteria for displayAccordingly, our business rules would prohibit us from removing any such survey data from our site We remind you that survey submissions at healthgrades.com represent the individual opinions of patients and are aggregated for the benefit of consumers To respond to an individual patient comment, please log into our provider portal Keep in mind Healthgrades is a community driven site All comments from provider and patients are filtered for inappropriate content prior to being published We encourage you to read the Best Practices pdf and watch the educational video: [redacted] Please remember, HIPAA compliance is YOUR obligationYou must have a portal account in order to respond Healthgrades cannot post a response on behalf of a provider [redacted] In the left hand rail, hover on the blue silhouette of a person, (next to Basic Information) Select ‘Patient Experience’ Select ‘Patient Review’ Locate the comment you want to reply to and click on the white 'reply' bubble on the rightReplies will go through an audit process and will not be available on our consumer site immediatelyRespectfully, [redacted]

Dear [redacted] , MD Thank you for contacting Healthgrades via the Revdex.comI have reviewed your correspondence with Healthgrades dated 1/30/ I do show that star reviews were removed Healthgrades did a system wide/provider wide cleanup of surveys that were more than years old This was not specific to you, rather every provider in our database (million healthcare providers) who had reviews that were more than years old were suppressed Finally, I show ratings, one with a comment showing on your profile I am not showing any additional surveys to be missing I am happy to speak to you in person if you would prefer? My direct phone number is [redacted] ~ if I don’t answer, please leave a voicemail Or, you may reach me at [redacted] if you have any additional information on the missing ratings.Regards, [redacted] ***Healthgrades

Complaint: I am rejecting this response because: Is not what I'm requesting and Health grades policy don't apply to my decision Sincerely, [redacted]

Initial Business Response / [redacted] (1000, 6, 2015/09/28) */ Thank you for contacting Healthgrades via the Revdex.comWe have responded to you twice with the source of the data (Centers for Medicade/Medicare Services)specifically NPITheir phone number is XXX-XXX-XXXXOnce they change this at the source, I'm happy to revisit your complaintOf note, since this CMS file is publicly available ~ there are many, many websites who are also displaying this address information for [redacted] I [redacted] DPMIt is critical that you request this removal at the source ~ CMS/NPI Thank you, [redacted] Initial Consumer Rebuttal / [redacted] (3000, 8, 2015/10/05) */ (The consumer indicated he/she DID NOT accept the response from the business.) I have contacted the companies they've asked me to and the companies have told me the information has been removedThey are STILL publishing my home address! Final Business Response / [redacted] (4000, 10, 2015/10/23) */ Dear Sir, [redacted] DPM has listed this address as his business practice addressYour complaint is with this podiatristHe is the person that needs to correct thisI cannot change his NPI listing (publicly available information)In the meantime, I have suppressed the profile from our consumer site however, this does nothing to solve your issueAs you know, if you google this podiatrist, you will see hundreds of listings with this address

Thank you for contacting Healthgrades via the Revdex.comHealthgrades provides information on healthcare providers as a free service to consumers, patients and other healthcare professionals In its provision of this service, Healthgrades aggregates information related to provider practices from publicly available sources Because you are a practicing provider and the published information regarding your practice is publicly available and of interest to the general public, Healthgrades’ policies prohibit me from completely removing this information from our website On the same day the complaint was filed, you also contacted Healthgrades regarding your concern We were able to confirm that you were in residency so we removed the surveys that were in the timeframe of your schooling Today there should have been zero surveys however another poor one was submitted last evening We are in the process of removing that last survey and have turned off the survey functionality to dissuade whoever is doing this We have temporarily suspended the functionality for months and then will turn back on the functionality This will replicate to our consumer site within 24-business hours, most likely it will occur overnight barring any unforeseen server issues, etc Additionally, we have marked the status of the profile as STUDENT, seeing patients with supervision If you have questions, please feel free to reach out directly to me at the following email address: [redacted] Regards, [redacted]

Dear [redacted] **Thank you for contacting Healthgrades and the Revdex.com.Healthgrades relies on the veracity of the person submitting the content/opinion We also have a statement that every person submitting has to agree to: “By submitting this form, you agree to the terms and conditions of the Healthgrades User Agreement, Editorial Policy, and Privacy Policy, and certify you or a family member has had contact with this practiceYou also confirm that you do not work for, are not in competition with and are not related to the provider in this review.By submitting a comment/opinion/survey, you agree to the terms and conditions of Healthgrades user agreement, editorial policy and privacy policy and certify you or a family member has had contact with this practice“ Additionally, the display name on the comments/opinions and demographic information is not a requirement in order to submit A person has the option to put in a Display Name, use their real name or leave this blank.A provider may respond to individual comments that are on our website If you have interest in this, please let me know.Finally, Healthgrades provides information on healthcare providers as a free service to consumers, patients and other healthcare professionals In its provision of this service, Healthgrades aggregates information related to provider practices from publicly available sources Because you are a practicing provider and the published information regarding your practice is publicly available and of interest to the general public, Healthgrades’ policies prohibit me from completely removing this information from our website Respectfully, [redacted] ***Healthgrades Operating Company, Inc

Thank you for contacting Healthgrades via the Revdex.com.We have reviewed your complaint and found that there is a comment/star rating that does not meet our criteria for display and will be suppressed This will be reflective on our consumer site within 24-business hours We would like to remind you that pursuant to our terms, all parties that submit surveys agree to the following statement: “By submitting this form, you agree to the terms and conditions of Healthgrades User Agreement, Editorial Policy and Privacy Policy and certify you or a family member has had contact with this practice You also confirm that you do not work for, are no in competition with and are not related to the provider in the review.” [redacted]

Dear Dr [redacted] , I am sorry that you are dissatisfied however Healthgrades conclusions remain the sameRespectfully, [redacted] ***

Thank you for contacting Healthgrades via the Revdex.com.Healthgrades provides information on healthcare providers as a free service to consumers, patients and other healthcare professionals In its provision of this service, Healthgrades aggregates information related to provider practices from publicly available sources Because Ms [redacted] has identified herself as a practicing provider and the published information regarding Ms [redacted] ’s practice is publicly available and of interest to the general public, Healthgrades’ policies prohibit me from completely removing Ms [redacted] ’s information from our website However, while we collect information that is in the public domain for licensed healthcare providers, many providers elect to manage their own profiles for free on our website and update them with their most current information You may finish the authentication for our free provider portal here: https://update.healthgrades.com/account/sign-inPlease note that because the current address information is coming from a public registry Centers for Medicaid and Medicare Services (CMS) where Ms [redacted] provided [redacted] as her business practice address, other sites may still utilize this address and phone number despite any changes made on our site In order to correct the publicly available source of this information, Ms [redacted] ’s may also wish to update her business address directly with the Centers for Medicaid and Medicare Services.Regards, [redacted] ***Healthgrades

Complaint: [redacted] I am rejecting this response because:I wish that my name doe snot come up on Healthgrade when some one searches my nmaeMajority of information posted on the Web site is out of accuracyI have several offices and provided information does not reflect those and it is misleading the public and providing wrong information.Removing survey functionality is good but not enough Sincerely, [redacted]

Thank you for contacting Healthgrades via the Revdex.com After additional review, Healthgrades has confirmed that the comment in question meets our criteria for display and it will remain publishedHealthgrades is a third-party collector of the personal opinions of patientsThe feedback does not represent the opinion of Healthgrades, and we do not mediate differences of opinion We do provide an area for Dr [redacted] to respond to the comment by logging into our provider portal Many providers ask the patient to contact their office directly, so they can discuss the issue and encourage the reviewer to withdraw the comment Some providers will use the provider response area to document their side of the issue.Healthgrades provides information on healthcare providers as a free service to consumers, patients, and other healthcare professionals In its provision of this service, Healthgrades aggregates information related to provider practices from publicly available sources and makes it available to the general public Respectfully,Healthgrades

Dear [redacted] ***,In your initial complaint to the Revdex.com, you state that ‘the review is fake or meant for other dentist.’ You didn’t mention anything about a competitor in your initial complaint nor did you offer any information regarding this ‘competitor’ This new rebuttal is about a competitor Again, I apologize but based upon the information presented to Healthgrades in your initial complaint, the reviews meet our criteria for display.I apologize that you are dissatisfied however our conclusions remain the same.Respectfully, [redacted] ***

Initial Business Response / [redacted] (1000, 6, 2015/11/23) */ Thank you for contacting Healthgrades via the Revdex.com! I have updated the address, phone number and fax numberThis will replicate to our consumer site within 24-business hoursAt one time, NPI had the fax number listed as XXX-XXX-XXXX Please let me know if we may further assist you Regards, [redacted] Initial Consumer Rebuttal / [redacted] (2000, 8, 2015/11/24) */ (The consumer indicated he/she ACCEPTED the response from the business.) Complaint Response Date bumped because: Holiday