Healthgrades

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.  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.  To the extent you provide me with an updated business address for yourself, I am happy to complete that update for you.  Regards,[redacted]Healthgrades Operating Company, Inc

Dear [redacted], MD Thank you for contacting Healthgrades via the Revdex.com. I have reviewed your correspondence with Healthgrades dated 1/30/17.  I do show that 2 star reviews were removed.  Healthgrades did a system wide/provider wide cleanup of surveys that were more than 10 years...

old.  This was not specific to you, rather every provider in our database (3.8 million healthcare providers) who had reviews that were more than 10 years old were suppressed.  Finally, I show 2 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

Revdex.com:
I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted], and find that this resolution is satisfactory to me.
I appreciate the Revdex.coms help with this matter and the response from the company.
Sincerely,
[redacted]

Initial Business Response /* (1000, 6, 2015/09/28) */
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' corporate policies prohibit me from completely removing your 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. I'm also happy to update the information for you, if you'd like.
Secondly, we have removed the survey functionality from your profile because you are a mental healthcare provider.
Regards,
[redacted]
Initial Consumer Rebuttal /* (2000, 8, 2015/10/08) */
(The consumer indicated he/she ACCEPTED the response from the business.)
Please refer to my email dated 9/26/2015 sent directly to Lisa Wolford at the Denver Revdex.com which stated: "This complaint has been resolved directly with Healthgrades per the below email received on 9/24/2015. Thank you very much for your assistance."
Dear [redacted] R. [redacted], LCSW-C,
Thank you for contacting Healthgrades.

Healthgrades appreciates your patience during the investigation process that you have requested.
I contacted our Product Management team and asked them if we could deactivate your survey page. This is not a normal option but they were open to the idea in your case due to your specialties' ethical responsibilities and constraints for behavioral health. It will allow the display of your profile it just takes away any option of surveys and of course all previous survey data would be gone as well.
I have processed the suppression of the Patient Survey page for your profile. It should update on Healthgrades website in 24-48 hours.

Respectfully,
[redacted]
Survey Compliance Analyst
Healthgrades Support Team
Healthgrades: How America Finds a DoctorTM
XXX XXth [redacted] 600 Denver, CO XXXXX
**@healthgrades.com
www.healthgrades.com www.cpmhealthgrades.com www.bettermedicine.com
___________________________

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.  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.  To the extent you provide me with an updated business address for you, I am happy to complete that update.  The ‘advertising brochure’ we sent you was a pdf of Best Practices on how to respond to a comment/opinion on line as a healthcare practitioner.  Also included are appointment cards with a url to the providers’ profile so that the front desk can give them out when the patient checks out after their appointment.  There was no solicitation of advertising included in any correspondence sent by Healthgrades to you.Finally, I do see that you did log into our free provider portal, agreed to our terms and conditions, uploaded a photo of yourself to display on your profile, and made updates to your profile along with providing a response to the review.  I am sorry you are dissatisfied however our conclusions remain the same.Regards,[redacted]Healthgrades

Dear Ms. [redacted] Thank you for contacting Healthgrades via the Revdex.com.  We have suppressed the patient rating functionality from your profile per your request.  You may view this change here: [redacted] I trust this resolves...

your concerns, if not please feel free to reach out to me directly. Regards,[redacted]

Dear [redacted], Thank you for contacting Healthgrades via the Revdex.com. You recently contacted Healthgrades regarding a concern you had about a survey received by Healthgrades.  Your concerns were forwarded to me.    As a result of your inquiry, Healthgrades...

launched an investigation into the profile of  [redacted] and analyzed the legitimacy of all surveys submitted through our website. You insisted that Healthgrades was removing or not posting surveys to [redacted] account however, please be aware that during our investigation we also discovered that a number of additional surveys were submitted from the same email address, IP address and/or mobile phone number. These surveys include several submissions from your email address and phone number as well.  In general, the way our system works, when an individual submits and confirms more than one survey using the same email address or telephone number, only the most recent survey is displayed in accordance with our business rules. Therefore, any surveys from duplicate email, or phone numbers were automatically overwritten by subsequently submitted and confirmed surveys.  Additionally, please be advised that fraudulent submissions may also be removed from our site where they don’t meet our business rules or when they have been submitted in violation of our user terms.  The submissions made from your email addresses and phone number appear to have been submitted in violation of our user terms and therefore have been removed.  We have also removed those surveys that were coming from your office with same IP addresses that were not part of a work station.  Regards,[redacted]Healthgrades Operating Company, Inc

Complaint: 11031842
I am rejecting this response because:The concerns in my complaint were not addressed.  I and many other physicians maintain that HealthGrades has insufficient mechanisms for preventing fradulent reviews.  They are unable to ensure that people posting reviews are actual patients. This is a website that makes money via advertising revenue without providing a useful service to the public. If, as they say, they are unable to remove physician profiles, then I am requesting that the patient review/survey part of the my profile be disabled and removed, for reasons stated above.

Dear Ms. [redacted], Thank you for contacting Healthgrades via the Revdex.com.I have reviewed the emails sent in and the responses by Healthgrades.  It looks as though this issue has been resolved.  Healthgrades removed the survey functionality because you agreed (and are a mental...

healthcare provider).If there is anything further we can assist with, please do not hesitate to reach out.Regards,[redacted]Healthgrades

Thank you for your response. As I stated in my previous communication, Healthgrades will report disciplinary actions (board orders and sanctions) for a period of 5 years.  From the screen shot provided by Ms. [redacted], it shows that the provider did have action assessed from the [redacted] stemming from an incident dating back to Sept 1998.  Although by completing anger management treatment, the charge was dismissed,  the provider was convicted of Assault in the Fourth degree in July of 2013,.  Additionally, the provider was convicted of Burglary in the Second Degree (the crime occurred in Jan 2005).  Additionally, the provider was convicted of Felony Harassment stemming from an incident from Nov 2008.  Because of these instances, the provider/applicant was denied the application for a CDPT.  This information is publically available and viewable with the [redacted].  At Healthgrades, we report disciplinary actions against the provider, not whether they have obtained a new license with a different degree.  I apologize, however our conclusions remain the same.  Regards, [redacted]Healthgrades Operating Company, Inc

Dear [redacted] I am sorry you are dissatisfied however Healthgrades conclusions remain the same ~ 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.  And finally, your initial complaint stated that you allege that your ex-husband was cyber bulling you via Healthgrades survey. I could be incorrect, however I do believe that under those alleged circumstances, this would not be covered by HIPAA which is why I asked for further information.  If you chose to give further information about this, you may contact Healthgrades as [redacted] and we will re-open the investigation.  As it stands, without further information, our investigation is complete. Respectfully,[redacted]Healthgrades Operating Company, Inc

Dear [redacted], Thank you for contacting Healthgrades. I do see that you are no longer practicing in [redacted] however I do show a [redacted] license issued on 10/3/2016 in [redacted].  Are you practicing in [redacted]? Regards, [redacted]

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

Revdex.com:
I am glad to receive a response from Healthgrades although I had to go through the complaint department of the Revdex.com to get one.  I received a response after I contacted Revdex.com but as a response to Healthgrades response I did not receive any response prior to this. There is no evidence any response was sent prior to this.  It stands to reason that if one had been sent prior then the last email I received directly from Healthgrades would not have gone through either.  As far as the statement that reviewer information cannot be released due to "privacy/confidentially agreement" with their reviewer I don't recall every being offered this same agreement when a profile was created for my business without my knowledge or consent.  I would urge Healthgrades to carefully review this policy and work to resolve this.  I know I am not the only one with this issue as having read the numerous complaints similar to mine and hope Healthgrades will take this complaint as a serious issue.Thank you, 
[redacted]

Dear [redacted], Thank you for contacting Healthgrades via the Revdex.com.  I have reviewed your complaint and the case that you sent directly to Healthgrades.  We are suppressing any comments and stars on the profile.  Additionally, we are removing the survey functionality so that no...

one can post a survey in the future.  We appreciate you bringing this to our attention.  These changes will be replicated to our consumer site within 24-48 business hours.Regards,[redacted]Healthgrades Operating Company, Inc

Thank you for contacting Healthgrades via the Revdex.com.I apologize for the difficulty you had with Healthgrades.I do see that you sent a contact us request to have your profile removed on 2/3/16.  Then on 2/8/16 you sent another request to have the survey(s) removed because you are a mental...

healthcare provider.  On 2/8/16 Healthgrades responded that your case was being escalated to our review investigation team.  On 2/17/16 Healthgrades notified you via email that the survey functionality had been suppressed on our website.  Search engines do have to re-index their pages and unfortunately Healthgrades has no control over the timeliness of this.  In checking the profile today, it appears that Google has not yet re-indexed their information.  I'm hopeful this will occur in the next few weeks since the information has been updated on Healthgrades website as of 2/17/16.Please feel free to reach out to me directly if further assistance is needed.Regards,[redacted]Healthgrades

Initial Business Response /* (1000, 6, 2015/10/05) */
Healthgrades completed the patient survey investigation on 9/28/15 and corresponded with the provider. We have removed 21 surveys that do not meet our criteria. In addition we are putting this provider on a watch list and will be checking his...

profile weekly. Since the filing of the Revdex.com complaint, we have opened up another investigation and found that 6 more surveys will be suppressed for not meeting our business criteria. We have corresponded directly with the provider.
Initial Consumer Rebuttal /* (2000, 8, 2015/10/12) */
(The consumer indicated he/she ACCEPTED the response from the business.)
Company completed investigation as described and removed improper reviews. Thank you.

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]

Dear [redacted]Thank you for contacting Healthgrades via the Revdex.com.  Your case has been sent to me to review.  I do apologize for the length of time it took to get back to you regarding the investigation.  We work investigation cases in the order we receive them.  The...

investigation has been complete and you should have received notification from the audit team regarding the outcome in a separate email.  If not, please let me know and I will resend the communication to you.   The ‘display name’ and location associated to the reviewer is an optional field or may be a pseudonym and may not necessarily correspond to the actual patient or location from which the comment was submitted.   The address we had on file for you came from [redacted] (a public database of healthcare providers) where your business practice address is (still) listed as [redacted].  I have updated the address in our database to [redacted].  This will replicate to our consumer site within 24-48 business hours.   Regards,[redacted]Healthgrades

Dear [redacted], We appreciate you contacting the Revdex.com regarding a star rating that was posted on Healthgrades.com and your request to be removed from our website.  As previously communicate to you on several occasions, 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.  Regarding your claim that Healthgrades has altered the date of any review, again Healthgrades maintains accurate records related to the date surveys are submitted as well as the dates they are confirmed.  Your profile does not reflect any submissions in 2016.  Regards, [redacted]Healthgrades Operating Company, Inc