Most businesses can showcase their reviews online as if they were prized gold medals. The healthcare industry, however, is quite different. And not only is it different, but it is also potentially dangerous. Failure to comply with AHPRA and the TGA’s guidelines can result in fines of up to $60,000 per offence for individuals and $120,000 for corporations.
There’s much to discuss regarding reviews and compliance. So in this article, we take a deep dive. I guarantee you’ll learn a lot.
The Basics: What’s the guidance around collecting reviews as a healthcare practitioner
First: a quick refresher.
– You can ask for reviews, but you cannot ask the patient to refer to their clinical experience/treatment specifically.
– Reviews & testimonials are strictly prohibited in marketing material you produce, meaning that you cannot display your reviews on your website or on your social media.
That’s the summary. However, it’s a complex topic. Read on.
AHPRA’s testimonial tool for practitioners
Back in 2018, AHPRA published a testimonial tool. It was designed to help advertisers navigate the often-vague rules on reviews and testimonials.
The problem is that it doesn’t go far enough. It’s built around a single flowchart to help determine whether a review counts as a testimonial. But it leaves most questions unanswered.
Practitioners still want to know:
- Can you display your aggregate Google star rating without the written reviews?
- Can you thank a patient for a review without that counting as using it in advertising? What happens with an unsolicited clinical testimonial posted to a page you control but can’t delete?
- Can you run an automatic reviews widget that pulls everything in, since you aren’t curating it?
The tool is silent on all of this, which is exactly where the risk sits for most practices.
A more useful resource would walk through these real-world scenarios rather than stopping at the definition.
So let’s tease this apart a little.
What is the difference between a review and a testimonial?
The guidelines state that not all reviews or positive comments are considered testimonials.
Under the guidelines, reviews of customer service or communication style are not considered testimonials unless they include a reference to the clinical aspects of the patient’s experience.
Clinical aspects include:
- The patient’s symptoms when they sought treatment
- The specific diagnosis or treatment provided by the practitioner
- The outcome of the procedure
- The skills or experience of the medical practitioner, either directly or in comparison with another service
In summary:
- A testimonial includes a clinical aspect of the service.
- A review focuses on nonclinical aspects, such as customer service or communication styles.
You can read more about this under section 4.3.1 “What is a testimonial?” in the AHPRA guidelines for advertising a regulated health service.
Can I display reviews on my website?
I recommend you avoid publishing any reviews or testimonials on your website altogether.
There is a thin grey area where you can display reviews that do not mention the clinical aspects of the patient’s experience. However, the guidelines strictly state that curating or editing reviews can be false or misleading.
Given that you’d be displaying your reviews on a website that you own and have complete control over, it’s extremely difficult not to curate the reviews – and to argue to the regulatory body that you haven’t curated or edited them.
That’s why it may be best to avoid them altogether.
Can I ask for reviews as a medical practitioner?
The guidelines do not specifically state that you cannot ask your patients for a review.
As a best practice, you should frame the question to your patient in a way such as, “We’d love it if you could leave us a few words about your experience with the clinic and the team”.
This way, you can direct the patient to leave a service comment rather than a testimonial.
Can I curate or selectively edit my reviews?
No. Altering or curating your reviews so that only the best testimonials are displayed is strictly prohibited under AHPRA’s guidelines.
Examples of altering or curating your reviews include:
- Deleting a bad, legitimate review
- Editing a review
- Showing a selection of cherry-picked reviews
Should I respond to reviews on my Google Business Profile?
While the guidelines for advertising a regulated health service, published in 2020, only briefly mention “a regulated health service provider should take care if they choose to engage with reviews on a third-party site as this may be considered using a testimonial to advertise a regulated health service”, the 2023 guidelines for advertising cosmetic surgery directly state in section 4.6 that:
“While medical practitioners are not responsible for testimonials or reviews their patients may post to third-party websites, medical practitioners must take steps to ensure that they do not interact with, or allow testimonials to be published, when they have control of, or over, this function.”
This guideline does not yet apply to all medical practitioners, but I expect that the next review of the advertising guidelines will extend to everyone. So it would be sensible to avoid responding to reviews on your Google Business Profile.
What to do about negative or defamatory reviews
This is a situation that all practitioners and business owners will find themselves in from time to time.
It’s better to wait 24 hours before taking any action and avoid responding in the heat of the moment, especially when the guidelines state that a medical practitioner should not interact with any testimonial posted.
If the testimonial is defamatory, then you should speak to your legal counsel before doing anything.
If the testimonial violates Google’s guidelines, you can flag the review.
What do the TGA guidelines say about testimonials?
The TGA’s guidance on testimonials and endorsements differs from AHPRA’s, which we will unpack in a future article.
Unlike AHPRA, the TGA does allow consumer testimonials in advertising for therapeutic goods, provided that:
- It does not contravene the Therapeutic Goods Act
- It is not inconsistent with the information supplied with the goods
- It does not refer to health benefits that are not typically expected from the goods
- No payment or valuable consideration has been given in exchange for it (anyone who is paid is treated as a marketer of the goods, and their testimonial cannot be used)
Here’s an important caveat for medical practices: Health professionals and anyone else involved in
