Today there are so many doctor review sites online, it can be confusing to know which is the best to choose from.
Before 1995, most of us relied on family and friends for recommendations. But today we have the power of the internet at our fingertips.
When you need to visit a new doctor, a lot of important questions come up. How long will it take to get an appointment? What will my insurance cover? Is the doctor a friendly person?
With the power of databases and online transparency we now have a better way to whittle down our choices. Or do we?
All this choice now this creates another challenge. A quick google search reveals hundreds of paid and organic options to find a doctor. In many of these cases, the doctors themselves are paying the be featured at the top of the pile.
Which Doctor Review Sites can you trust?
To help narrow the field, here are 10 of the Best Online Doctor Review Sites to enhance your search.
ZocDocs
Founded in 2007, ZocDocs aims to shorten waiting times to visit a doctor by offering doctor reviews and patient scheduling all in one website. Their searchable database includes specialties, range of services, insurance options, office locations, photographs of doctors (a surprisingly comforting feature), educational background and of course, user-submitted reviews. It is important to note that doctors pay a fee to be able to directly schedule patient appointments.
Yelp
While primarily known as a consumer-based review site, Yelp does boast an entire section dedicated to Doctors and Health practitioners. It has an average of 89 million unique monthly visitors, so the chances of getting a reasonably up-to-date review from Yelp are strong.
Yelp reviews are also featured directly inside the Apple Maps, giving the brand a huge reach into mobile based search. Yelp is known for unfair consumer complaints as much as overzealous reviews. Therefore, it may be worth checking a reviewer’s history alongside the actual doctor review.
WebMD
Started in 1996, WebMD (previously known as Healthscape and also Healtheon) is known just as much for it’s medical symptoms checker as for its Doctor profiles. As of February 2014, WebMD has recorded an average of 156 million unique visitors per month.
The WebMD Health Network operates WebMD Health and other health-related sites. These include Medscape, MedicineNet, eMedicine, eMedicineHealth, RxList, theheart.org, Medscape Education. They also publish WebMD the Magazine, a patient-directed publication distributed bi-monthly to 85 percent of physician waiting rooms.
RateMDs
With over 2 million ratings, RateMDs is the source for all things health including up-to-date doctor ratings and reviews, the latest health trends coverage and medical specialties information. Alongside the reviews and listing for MDs, it also hosts a Health Library, sharing basic information for multiple health conditions.
Healthgrades
More than one million people a day rely upon Healthgrades to research, compare and connect with doctors and other healthcare professionals. It also runs partner sites ourhealth.com and rightdiagnosis.com aimed at consumers researching medical conditions.
Healthgrades provides a background section for doctors including their age, where they went to medical school. It lists when they graduated and where they did their residency. It shows how many have no sanction or malpractice. Like ZocDocs, you can select doctors by insurance plan for particular specialties.
Google Reviews
If you want to skip third party reviews altogether, you can use Google as your source. Google Reviews can help find doctor listings and reviews from consumers on their home page. Google Reviews is an open source review system that relies on the public to submit reviews based on their experiences.
The added advantage of a simple, useful interface means you get the information you need quickly. Whether or not these open-source reviews are entirely legitimate is questionable. Despite this, it is a service that saves time and confusion for many.
Care Dash
A newcomer to online doctor review space, Care Dash already have over 25,000 doctors listed and are adding more each week. Their key focus is transparency and not receiving payment for online reviews. Their site also provides health and wellness articles, making it a great place to visit and see if your doctor of choice has been reviewed.
Angie’s List
Founded in 1995, Angie’s list is a grassroots style review site. Today it has over 3.2 million paid members. Using over 720 unique sources to gather reputable reviews, Angie’s List is focussed on recreating community word of mouth in an online world.
The other benefit of Angie’s list is users cannot post anonymously. Also, the Angie’s List team for follows up any specific complaints against listed doctors.
Top Doctors
Another newcomer to the physician online review space, it is a simple yet useful site. With a streamlined user-friendly interface, you can search by Doctor Specialty and Location. For Doctors who want to add to their online presence, you can easily claim your profile.
Vitals.com
“Vitals change the game”, or so say vitals.com. The website is focussed on crunching the numbers to ensure quality care at the lowest cost. Rather than focus on patient reviews, they use data to do the deciding. Vitals.com used 64 data points on every provider. They claim an estimated average saving of $600 per procedure. In these ways, vitals.com is provide a unique approach to searching online for a doctor.
DrSocial.org
This is an online review site with a unique mission. DrSocial funds medical research by transforming ad revenue into a fundraising source. Any non-profit company that promotes the website will receive $1 in funding for a refer signup.
Do you have another Doctor Review Sites you prefer?
Please share yours in the comments below.
