RateMDs Commitment to Transparency

When you're searching for a healthcare provider, you deserve to see the full picture — not just the highlight reel. Here's how RateMDs ensures that every patient voice is heard, and what our approach to transparency really means for you.

We don't filter feedback by score — ever

Our fundamental promise is simple: we display all patient feedback regardless of whether they are positive or negative. A five-star and a one-star feedback go through the same process, are evaluated under the same rules, and carry the same weight on a provider's profile.

No provider can pay to have unfavourable patient feedback removed.

What this means for you

When you read patient feedback on RateMDs, you are seeing the authentic range of patient experiences - the good, the critical, and everything in between. That's the transparency you deserve when making the important decision in choosing the right healthcare provider.

How our moderation system works

All feedback submitted on RateMDs pass through the same moderation process designed to protect the integrity of the platform for both patients and providers — not to influence whether a rating skews positive or critical.

This moderation is not a filter for inconvenient truths. Feedback that are critical or unflattering are never removed for those reasons alone. Moderation exists solely to uphold feedback quality and prevent abuse.

Automatic safeguards (always in effect)

These apply to every rating on the platform:

• Reviews must be between 50–5,000 characters

• Only one rating per IP address per provider profile

• Profanity filters keep language family-friendly

• Spam detection flags and removes inauthentic submissions quickly

Human moderators

Human moderators step in when automated systems flag something unusual. This review is not a filter for critical opinions but solely to maintain feedback quality and prevent abuse.

Profile-level gating tools

For profiles showing sustained, irregular posting patterns, such as repeated spamming or astroturfing, additional temporary profile-specific gating tools may be applied:

• Forced login to rate: Patients may be temporarily required to log in with a verified account before submitting their feedback on a specific profile. This adds a layer of accountability and helps deter inauthentic submissions.

• Profile on moderation: In more persistent cases, new feedback submissions on a specific profile may be held for admin review before being published. Only those that are compliant with RateMDs Terms of Use will be published.

Both measures are temporary and can be lifted once suspicious activity subsides.

What do patient reviews actually measure?

One of the most thoughtful critiques of physician-rating platforms is that reviews often reflect the full care experience — not just clinical outcomes. It's worth being honest about what ratings tend to capture, and what they don't.

Patient feedback are naturally shaped by the moments that stand out: how long you waited, whether the doctor listened, how the reception staff made you feel, and whether you left with clear answers. These are real and meaningful parts of healthcare. But clinical outcomes — surgical success rates, diagnostic accuracy, treatment effectiveness — are rarely something a patient can directly observe or articulate in a review.

This means a brilliant specialist with a brusque manner may rate lower than their clinical skill deserves, while a warm and communicative doctor may rate highly regardless of outcome. Neither result is dishonest; it simply reflects what patients are best positioned to report on.

Ratings on RateMDs are most reliable for understanding what it's like to be a patient in that practice: the communication style, the office environment, wait times, and how supported you will feel. For clinical competence, we encourage you to complement what you find here with board certification status, specialist referrals, and your own consultation experience.

Commonly asked questions

Can I actually trust the reviews?

It's a fair and important question. No online review platform can offer a perfect guarantee of authenticity. What RateMDs can guarantee is that we actively work to remove spam and inauthentic submissions, and that we do not selectively remove negative reviews to make a provider look better. 

Our recommendation: look for patterns across multiple ratings, not individual outliers. A consistent thread across many patients tells you far more than a single extreme review. Take a look at how our rating system works for more details.

What actually gets removed, and why?

Ratings are removed when they contain profanity, are identified as spam, or are confirmed as violating our Terms of Use. Ratings are never removed because they give a low score, or because a provider finds them unflattering. Take a look at this Knowledge Base article for more details on what gets removed. 

We want to be direct about our history: RateMDs previously offered a feature that allowed providers on a subscription plan to hide up to three reviews. This feature was discontinued in early 2019 as it conflicted with the transparency RateMDs is built to provide, and it is no longer part of how we operate.

Why hasn't my rating appeared yet?

Most ratings are published immediately after submission. There are a few reasons one might be delayed:

• Our team may be reviewing the content against our Terms of Use — for example, when a profile is showing irregular posting patterns that suggest spam or astroturfing.

• Some providers subscribe to our Rating Concierge service, which gives them a 7-day private preview window for lower-rated submissions before they go public. During this window, the provider can reach out to resolve the issue with you directly, or formally appeal the rating to our Validation Team if they believe it violates our Terms of Use. If no action is taken — or if an appeal is denied — the rating is published at the end of the 7-day period. This window exists to give providers a fair opportunity to address genuine concerns, not to suppress valid feedback.
  

If you submitted your rating while logged into an account, you can check its status directly. We recommend logging in when you submit — it makes it easier for us to assist you if you have questions.

Could these reviews unfairly hurt a doctor's reputation?

We take this concern seriously. Our moderation process is specifically designed to catch and remove content that crosses the line into harassment, defamation, or bad-faith attacks. Ratings must reflect personal patient experience to remain on the platform and must meet our Terms of Use. 

We also acknowledge an inherent asymmetry: patients can speak publicly about their experience, while providers are often constrained by privacy laws from publicly disclosing context. This is why our human review process for flagged content matters so much in maintaining fairness for everyone involved.

What should I do if I see a rating that I think should be removed?

Flag it! Flagged ratings are reviewed by our human moderators for potential removal. Those that are in violation of our Terms of Use will be removed.

Have a question about a specific rating or your experience on RateMDs? Contact us at support@ratemds.com, we are here to help.