Doctor Reviews: How Serious Are Portals? Total Security

Anyone looking for a doctor on the Internet will quickly come across review portals such as Jameda, Docinsider, or Sanego. Their doctors are rated with school grades, asterisks, or comments. But the German Medical Association advises caution: it is often falsified, emotionalized reviews.

Control Hardly Possible

Consumer advocates also take a critical view of commercial doctor rating portals. As a rule, it is not checked whether the evaluators have ever been in the doctor's office. Some agencies give reviews on behalf of doctors. The professional entries can hardly be distinguished from real reviews. Even if the portals insist that they pay attention to the quality of the entries and manipulation attempts, secure control is hardly possible.

Better Rating for Paid Premium Profiles?

Some platforms are criticized because they are both advertising and rating platforms. Doctors can buy so-called premium profiles on the platforms and then appear with a photo, professional focus, and a link to the website. They can also place advertisements. Consumer advocates doubt that the portals can not be influenced by the advertising revenue.

"Time" Study: Paying Doctors Rated Better

In The study, the weekly newspaper "Die Zeit" compared the average rating of 3,770 graded doctors and found that doctors with a paid profile hardly ever get bad grades. 95 percent of doctors with a premium profile is rated 1, compared to only 77 percent of non-paying colleagues. The average grade for paying doctors is 1.2 compared to 1.7 for non-paying colleagues.

Doctors also suspect that platform operators are more likely to block negative criticism from paying doctors. The portal operator asserts, however, that paid profiles have no influence on the ratings or the ranking.

White List: Rating Portal without Advertising

If you don't want to rely solely on the experiences of friends and family when looking for a doctor, you can rely on Use the database of the "white list". All doctors in private practice are listed in the Bertelsmann Foundation project. The white list is ad-free, based on scientific surveys, and is controlled by patient organizations. If you want to submit a review, you must provide your health insurance number.

Correctly Assess Doctor Reviews

• Positive Ratings: If a doctor receives almost exclusively positive ratings in a rating forum, this can be a reason to doubt the meaningfulness of the rating.

• Check Criteria: The providers of medical portals determine the ratings using questionnaires. The criteria do not always make sense - check how the assessment is made up.

• Compare Portals: Compare a doctor's reviews on multiple portals. Caution should be exercised if similar formulations are used several times.

• Asking Personal Contacts: When looking for a doctor, ask friends, relatives, and work colleagues who will tell you honestly about their experiences. If you have already found a doctor you trust, you can ask him for recommendations for other doctors.

You should make sure that you are using a total security program for privacy protection.