A Letter to You, our public...
Because of these federal regulations that are in place limiting our practice’s ability to respond to online reviews we have adopted this official social media response to online reviews.
Although we recognize that in today’s society it is common to place reviews on social media outlets such as Yelp or Google many patients do not realize that there are federal regulations that strictly regulate and prohibit medical practices from responding to online reviews. This makes reviews on a medical practice very different than they are on other businesses--we legally cannot respond to online reviews. Although often a practice would love to defend itself from reviews that may be incorrect, non-factual, inflammatory and factually defamatory the reality is that HIPPA and patient privacy laws prevent our office from providing any type of direct online response or defense. Even an acknowledgement that a reviewer was indeed a patient of our practice would be considered a violation of that patient’s privacy. If you think this is just our office's position check out this article.
Of course as a business we always shoot for 100% satisfaction and are highly concerned whenever this does not occur. We do have a method for formal complaint resolution that can be performed securely via our website at www.crossroadsobgyn.com. To file a complaint with our office click on help then file a complaint. We encourage any patient who has not received 5 star level service to submit a complaint to us as we provide a written response to each and every complaint. Each and every formal complaint is also reviewed by office management. However please be advised that our office cannot discuss or resolve any complaints that you may have with our office through any social media or public online forum based on federal law.
We sincerely hope that any prospective or current patients take the restrictions that are placed on our response into consideration when reviewing our practice online. The fact is that because we cannot respond directly to reviews online even if there is information that we have in our office on file that directly contradicts the review because we are not allowed to publish this information. We want our patients and customers to know our lack of detailed response is only secondary to federal regulation and not secondary to a lack of caring or understanding on our part. As stated we are dedicated to 100% customer and patient satisfaction (within the confines of the law and our written policies) and we actively solicit feedback from each and every patient via in office surveys so that we can always tailor our services and policies to patient demand.
We encourage any prospective patient to please review multiple sites (Google, Healthgrades, ZocDoc, Fullslate, etc.) when considering our practice. Because we do actively solicit patient feedback we have hundreds of reviews online and we have found in our experience that certain sites in particular seem to favor or selectively filter complaint reviews secondary to their site rules. We never want any current, former or prospective patient to take our lack of a detailed online response as a lack of caring for any concerns or complaints that may be delivered online. Therefore please remember that if you would like the opportunity to resolve any issue with our practice that you may submit a help request or you may file a formal complaint and you will receive a written response.
As always we appreciate the opportunity to partner in your healthcare,
Crossroads ObGyn and Wellness