Online Reputation Checklist

□ List every official profile and major directory entry for each location. □ Record the profile URL, owner, recovery method and last verification date. □ Keep at least two current practice-controlled owners where the platform permits. □ Remove former staff and vendor accounts promptly. □ Require multifactor authentication for administrators. □ Define the canonical practice name, address, phone, website and hours. □ Document who can publish, reply, escalate and approve corrections.

□ Check alerts for new reviews and material profile edits. □ Capture the platform, date, rating, theme and assigned owner without copying unnecessary patient details into marketing tools. □ Escalate credible threats, safety concerns, discrimination allegations, legal demands and suspected privacy incidents. □ Report content only when there is a reasonable policy basis; disagreement with a negative opinion is not itself a violation. □ Do not ask staff, relatives or agencies to post reviews that are not based on genuine experiences.

□ Use a calm, human reply rather than a defensive template. □ Do not confirm that the reviewer is or was a patient. □ Do not discuss appointments, diagnosis, treatment, payment or records in public. □ Acknowledge the feedback, state the service standard and offer a private contact route. □ Avoid copying the reviewer's clinical claims into the reply. □ Have the privacy or practice lead review exceptional cases before posting. □ Save the operational lesson separately from the public response.

□ Invite genuine, unbiased feedback using a consistent eligibility rule. □ Do not condition incentives, discounts or free services on a review or its sentiment. □ Do not prevent an unhappy patient from reaching the same public review option offered to others. □ Make the request optional, brief and easy to decline. □ Separate private patient-experience surveys from public review links. □ Stop repeated reminders after a reasonable limit. □ Recheck platform rules whenever the workflow changes.

□ Group feedback into themes such as access, communication, waiting, billing clarity and environment. □ Look for repeated, recent patterns rather than reacting to one emotional phrase. □ Confirm ownership and due dates for service-recovery actions. □ Share praise with the relevant team without exposing more patient information. □ Check whether promised callbacks and private follow-ups occurred. □ Update FAQs or process explanations when confusion is recurring and the information can be published safely.

□ Record review count, rating distribution, response coverage, median response time and recurring themes by platform and location. □ Compare profile calls, website visits and direction requests with actual appointment data where lawful and technically reliable. □ Ask new patients how they found the practice; do not assume a profile click became a booking. □ Audit name, address, phone, hours and links. □ Sample responses for privacy and tone. □ Report improvements and unresolved risks to practice leadership. □ Keep raw patient feedback access limited to people who need it.

Google local ranking and response guidance: https://support.google.com/business/answer/7091 Google Maps review policy: https://support.google.com/contributionpolicy/answer/7400114 FTC consumer review rule summary: https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/news/press-releases/2024/08/federal-trade-commission-announces-final-rule-banning-fake-reviews-testimonials HHS HIPAA marketing guidance: https://www.hhs.gov/hipaa/for-professionals/privacy/guidance/marketing/index.html Have a qualified privacy professional review response and outreach practices for the jurisdictions in which the practice operates.