Remove Negative HealthGrades Reviews.
Pay Only After Removal.

The review contains specific factual claims that are demonstrably untrue. 'This doctor misdiagnosed me' is an opinion. 'This doctor has a suspended license', when untrue and verifiable, is a false statement of fact. The distinction matters, and we help clients understand exactly where their review falls.

Content that threatens the provider, uses harassing language, or is inflammatory in nature violates HealthGrades' guidelines regardless of whether the underlying complaint is genuine. This includes reviews that encourage others to avoid the provider in an explicitly threatening way.

Reviews containing profanity, obscene content, name-calling, or direct personal attacks on the provider are removable. The bar here is relatively clear, HealthGrades applies this consistently and it is one of the more reliable grounds for removal.

Any review that includes phone numbers, email addresses, URLs, or full names of anyone involved is a policy violation. This applies whether the information belongs to the provider, their staff, or the reviewer themselves.

HealthGrades explicitly prohibits reviews that mention or reference legal actions, lawsuits, complaints, or ongoing legal proceedings. This is one of the cleaner policy violations to establish and one of the more reliably enforced by the platform.

Reviews that describe procedures the provider does not perform, facilities they have never practiced at, dates that cannot correspond to actual appointments, or specialty-specific details that do not match the provider are strong candidates for removal on misidentification or non-patient grounds. This requires documented evidence, not just a claim.

“I saw you on March 3rd for your knee and your imaging was completely clear, so this review makes no sense.”

“Our practice takes every concern seriously. We cannot discuss any individual's care in a public forum, but we invite anyone with a concern to contact the office directly.”

Three negative reviews appeared on a dermatologist's HealthGrades profile within a 10-day window, all sharing similar phrasing patterns. Two described procedures outside the physician's specialty, and one referenced an in-office X-ray suite that did not exist at the practice. The timing corresponded to the termination of a front-office employee the prior month. Reputation Resolutions assessed all three reviews, documented the specific factual impossibilities, and built a structured escalation citing the misidentification and misleading content provisions. Both qualifying reviews were removed within 28 days.

A single HealthGrades review referenced an ongoing malpractice claim by name and encouraged other patients to 'contact an attorney and join the lawsuit.' It also included the name of a specific attorney's office and threatened professional consequences. The review qualified for removal on three independent grounds: reference to legal proceedings, threatening content, and inclusion of third-party contact information. Reputation Resolutions built an escalation documenting each violation separately with the review text annotated against the relevant guideline provisions. HealthGrades approved removal on the first submission in 19 days.

Yes, some can, but not all. HealthGrades removes reviews that violate their Community Review Guidelines. This includes content that is defamatory, threatening, harassing, obscene, contains personal contact information, references legal proceedings, or was posted by someone who was clearly not a patient. Reviews that are negative but do not cross into policy violations cannot be removed. Reputation Resolutions assesses every case honestly before accepting it and tells you which category your review falls into.

Yes. Requesting removal of content that violates a platform's own stated guidelines is entirely legal and consistent with normal platform policy enforcement. It is not the same as suppressing legitimate feedback. Reputation Resolutions only pursues removal through legitimate, policy-based escalation and legal channels where applicable. We do not use deceptive tactics or falsely characterize reviews.

Reputation Resolutions resolves HealthGrades removals within 30 days or less. That is our benchmark and what we work to on every case. We provide a timeline estimate specific to your situation during the free consultation and deliver regular status updates throughout the process.

If the review does not violate HealthGrades' policies, we will tell you that directly during the case assessment, before you spend anything. We will also explain what other options exist for your specific situation, including review generation and profile strengthening strategies. Schedule a free consultation and we will give you an honest picture of where things stand.

When you flag a review through HealthGrades' standard form, you get one input field and a dropdown. When Reputation Resolutions files a removal request, we submit a structured escalation that cites the specific policy language the review violates, documents supporting evidence, and is constructed to reach a human reviewer rather than an automated dismissal queue. Physicians who attempt self-flagging and get denied often make re-escalation harder because HealthGrades treats the first submission as the case on record.

A denial is not necessarily final. Reputation Resolutions re-evaluates every denied request to assess whether a differently framed argument or new evidence can support re-escalation. In many cases, a denial on a first submission can be successfully reversed with a restructured case. If you have already filed and been denied, contact us before taking any further action. We will assess what was submitted and advise on whether and how to proceed.

It happens occasionally. When a reviewer resubmits content that Reputation Resolutions previously secured a removal for, we address the new submission as part of the original engagement at no additional charge. We monitor client profiles specifically for this pattern following every completed removal.

Yes. In 2026, AI tools including ChatGPT, Google AI Overviews, Perplexity, and Gemini synthesize data from HealthGrades and similar platforms when generating answers about physicians. A negative review can influence AI-generated responses to patient queries about you. When Reputation Resolutions removes the review from HealthGrades, it also removes that content's availability to AI models indexing the platform. Reputation Resolutions is one of the few ORM firms actively building content strategies designed to influence AI-generated answers as part of every engagement.

No. A denial on a self-filed flag is the starting point for a professional escalation, not the end of the road. The most common reason self-filed flags fail is that they do not cite the right policy provision or do not include evidence framed in a way HealthGrades' moderation process can act on. Reputation Resolutions reviews previously denied cases regularly and successfully re-escalates many of them. Contact us before you make any additional self-filed attempts, as additional weak submissions can reduce the options available.

Sometimes yes. If the review describes procedures you do not perform, a location you have never practiced at, a specialty that does not match yours, or contains details that are factually inconsistent with your practice's operations, that inconsistency is documentable evidence. If the reviewer created a HealthGrades account on the same day they posted and has no other review history, that pattern is also worth documenting. Reputation Resolutions helps clients identify, organize, and present non-patient evidence in a way that HealthGrades' moderation process can evaluate.

Not if you are actively practicing. HealthGrades' policy prohibits complete profile removal for practicing healthcare providers, as the platform treats provider information as a public consumer service. If you have retired, surrendered your medical license, or fully ceased clinical practice, HealthGrades will process a profile removal request with appropriate documentation. What Reputation Resolutions can do is remove individual reviews that violate platform policies.

If you have already published a public response to a HealthGrades review, contact a healthcare attorney or compliance officer to assess your exposure before taking further action. For future responses, Reputation Resolutions provides HIPAA-compliant response language for all healthcare clients before anything is published. The fundamental rule: do not confirm or deny that the reviewer was your patient in any public response, even indirectly.

Misidentification is an explicit violation of HealthGrades' guidelines and one of the more straightforward grounds for removal. If reviews intended for another provider with the same or similar name are appearing on your profile, document the discrepancy clearly, including evidence that the provider described in the review is a different individual practicing in a different location or specialty. Reputation Resolutions has handled misidentification cases and can build the removal argument for you.

No. HealthGrades does not require reviewers to verify patient status before posting. Anyone can submit a review on any provider's profile. This means reviews from competitors, former employees, personal contacts, or individuals with no care relationship can and do appear. HealthGrades' guidelines do prohibit non-patient reviews, but enforcement depends on the removal request being properly filed and documented, which is exactly what Reputation Resolutions does.

You have three options. Open the review and use the ellipsis, the three dots, to choose Flag; or, if you have claimed your profile, flag it from your provider dashboard under Patient Experience, then Patient Reviews; or email reviews@healthgrades.com with the provider name and the guideline the review violates. Reporting a review sends it to moderation but does not guarantee removal, and HealthGrades does not notify you of the decision, so you have to keep checking the profile yourself. The most common reason a self-filed flag fails is that it does not cite the specific guideline provision the review breaks, or does not include evidence framed in a way moderation can act on.

No. The federal Consumer Review Fairness Act makes it unlawful to use contract terms that bar or penalize honest patient reviews, and clauses like that are void and unenforceable. Attempting it also tends to backfire and draw more attention. The durable path is removing reviews that genuinely violate HealthGrades' guidelines and building real positive review volume, not restricting what patients are allowed to say.

Generally no. Under Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, platforms like HealthGrades are not treated as the publisher of content their users post, so the platform itself usually cannot be compelled to remove a review through a lawsuit against HealthGrades. Where a review is genuinely defamatory, the claim is against the person who wrote it, and a court order against that author can then support removal. For most physicians, a policy-based removal through HealthGrades is faster and less costly than litigation, which is the route Reputation Resolutions pursues first and why we assess your case before recommending any legal step.

Yes, without exception. Every Reputation Resolutions engagement is protected by a non-disclosure agreement from the moment of first contact. We never disclose client identities, case details, or even the fact that a physician contacted us, to anyone, under any circumstances. Healthcare clients are among the most privacy-sensitive we serve, and we treat every inquiry accordingly.

Reputation Resolutions charges nothing until the review is confirmed removed. Pricing is discussed after the free case assessment, once we understand the number of reviews involved, the evidence complexity, and the scope of work. Because we operate on a results-only model, we are selective about the cases we take. If we do not believe a removal case has a strong basis, we will say so in the assessment rather than take a fee for an attempt we do not think will succeed.