We trust doctors with our most important possession: our health.
But how do we know how reputable our doctors are? How do you check your doctor’s reputation? Is their bedside manner good? How accurate are online reviews? Are disciplinary actions a red flag?
These are all fundamental questions to consider when reviewing your healthcare provider’s reputation.
These days, there are so many sources of information accessible to us, it can be difficult to sort out the useful details from distractions and rumors.
But not to worry. Today, you’re going to learn exactly what you need to do to assess your doctor’s online reputation accurately.
Basic licensing checks
In most cases, you can be relatively sure your doctor is licensed to practice medicine without doing a background check. However, occasionally, stories appear in the news about unlicensed practitioners flying under the radar. If you have suspicions, here’s how to check a medical license.
Start at the state level
Each state has a board that grants licenses, and each board has a searchable database of physicians who have been granted a license to practice in that state. The easiest way to check is to visit the Federation of State Medical Boards (FSMB). From here, you can click on the DocInfo tab in the upper right corner. You can select to search all states under the doctor’s name or choose the specific state you’re in. Once you hit search, you’ll gain access to over 1 million doctors in the United States.
You can verify a doctor’s license, disciplinary actions, and professional background information. Note that states can issue several different kinds of medical licenses, depending on the type of practice and state law. Look up the licenses listed on your doctor’s profile to see if they require additional certifications.
If you’re still unclear, you can also look up almost any licensed doctor at the American Medical Association’s official web portal. Not all doctors are members of the American Medical Association, but many are. If your doctor isn’t a member, you may want to ask why, as it’s usually seen as a symbol of professionalism. The same holds true for dentists with American Dental Association membership.
The importance of disciplinary actions
It can be alarming to Google your doctor and find a scary-looking disciplinary action in the search results.
In some cases, these actions are causes for concern. In other cases, not so much.
Some disciplinary actions arise automatically through minor mistakes or omissions.
For example, a doctor may have missed a deadline for filing paperwork and received a temporary suspension. Doctors are also responsible for their staff’s actions, so an issue caused by a misbehaving nurse could end up on the doctor’s record.
If you like your doctor, you probably don’t have to worry too much about these kinds of disciplinary actions.
However, actions involving abusing prescription privileges, malpractice, or negligence can clue you in to more serious problems.
That being said, if your doctor is still licensed despite past issues, it means the state medical board deems them competent. So, if you trust this doctor despite his or her disciplinary record, it’s not necessarily wrong to stay with them.
Curious about the state of physician disciplinary actions in 2023? Check out this infographic from the FSMB.
How to look up disciplinary actions
If you want to search for specific disciplinary actions, you’ll need to do a bit of research. You can use the DocInfo website to find out if your doctor has faced any disciplinary actions, but it may not provide specific details about the incident.
Unfortunately, the federal National Practitioner Data Bank—a detailed database of malpractice payments and disciplinary actions—does not identify doctors to the public. However, hospitals and healthcare companies can use it, so you can ask your insurer if your doctor has been checked against the Data Bank.
Some states, like Illinois and New York, offer partial malpractice databases for consumers. If your state doesn’t, try searching for your doctor’s name with terms like “malpractice” or “lawsuit” to gain a fuller view of their reputation.
Evaluating online reviews
Doctor rating websites have become a go-to resource for checking up on doctors to make sure they are providing good service. This is because online patient reviews can reveal a lot about a provider’s quality of care.
If your doctor has many online reviews, you can use them to assess his or her reputation.
- Don’t rely solely on the star rating: While a 5-star doctor is probably better than a 1-star one, look deeper into the content of the reviews.
- Quantity matters: The more reviews a doctor has, the more reliable the overall rating might be. A doctor with just a few reviews may not give you an accurate picture.
- Review length: Longer, detailed reviews are more valuable than brief ones. They provide more insight into the patient’s experience.
- Bedside manner: Studies show that (PDF) bedside manner is often the biggest predictor of patient satisfaction. Be critical of reviews focused solely on interpersonal skills, as they may reflect the patient’s personality more than the doctor’s competence.
How to read doctor online reviews
Switching gears: When it comes to online reputation management for doctors, bad reviews can negatively affect a practice, even if they are false. If you’re a doctor looking to push down negative reviews and improve your reputation, download our reputation report card. It will show you what others see about you online and provide insights into which areas need improvement. Then, speak with our reputation management experts to start building your online image as a doctor patients can trust.