A positive online presence for healthcare professionals is a must, which makes it critical to manage Vitals reviews.

Vitals.com features over 1 million doctors in its database along with 165,000 facilities. Consumers use Vitals to find information on a potential healthcare provider, and they rely on feedback from other users. A Software Advice survey showed that 72 percent of patients use online reviews as the step to finding a new doctor.

Vitals says it currently features over 9 million ratings and reviews, which makes it a definitive source for the healthcare community. Here’s how you can join Vitals and manage reviews.

Claiming Your Vitals Profile

1.Fill Out the Form

The signup page will ask you to complete a form. You’re required to fill out information such as your first and last name, the name of your practice or hospital, address, phone number, and an email address.

2. Update Your Profile

The essential information for your Vitals profile can be narrowed down to your name, address, and phone number. However, adding other specific information about you and your practice brings more credibility. Additional details you can put on your Vitals profile include:

Years of experience

Insurance types accepted

Languages spoken

Education

Specialties and expertise fields

Board certification

Vitals gathers data from multiple sources such as medical boards, hospitals, federal websites, and “third-party affiliates” to corroborate any information on current listings.

These sources are also why Vitals claims to have “all actively licensed physicians in the United States.” However, some physicians might not have a listing on Vitals for numerous reasons such as:

They moved to a new located and haven’t been noted as a practicing doctor in the area

They changed their last name, which isn’t registered yet

They are practicing overseas and their U.S. license might be expired, which might not be noted in the Vitals database.

They recently received their license, but it doesn’t show up yet on Vitals’ records.

Everything You Need to Know About Vitals Reviews

Vitals’ Review Policy

Users have a five-star rating system at their disposal when giving feedback to a doctor. In addition to an overall score, users can also give a rating across different categories such as:

Accurate Diagnosis

Promptness

Friendly Staff

Easy Appointments

Appropriate Follow-up

Wait Time

The Vitals review system will only let you submit one review for a doctor every month. This provides a more accurate picture of recent patient experiences with a doctor and prevents those with a grudge from spamming the profile page with inaccurate ratings and reviews.

In terms of text feedback, Vitals doesn’t edit any published comments or ratings from users. However, it does moderate each review so that racist, derogatory, and offensive comments don’t show up on review pages.

Anonymity is also provided to users when they give reviews. The main reason for this method is privacy, especially when it comes to medical issues. HIPAA privacy laws also have some weight on this issue.

Responding to Negative Vitals Reviews

Negative reviews are inevitable. Our research shows that patients are 34.7 percent more likely to leave reviews about their physician after a negative experience.

However, you still have an opportunity to change their sentiment by responding to their review in the right manner. Thank them for writing a review, and be informed of their issue when you write a response. If possible, try to redirect them to a department that can handle patient issues (if you have one).

By settling these issues privately there’s also a possibility that the reviewer can change their review and come back for another appointment.

Tracking Reviews on Vitals and Other Sites

Keeping track of reviews on Vitals can be difficult, but looking for feedback across multiple review sites is even more time-consuming. You have to claim your practice’s profile on each site and monitor them frequently to ensure that you don’t miss any critical reviews.

However, there’s an easier option available. With review management software like ReviewTrackers, you can monitor and respond to every negative review from one dashboard. You can also use ReviewTrackers to find trends in reviews and discover new ways to increase your online reputation to attract more patients.