Reputation Management for Doctors gets the Katie Couric Treatment

Online reputation management for doctors can be a thorny path to navigate. Good reviews are great. Bad reviews happen. These are the ups and downs of an open online forum. In the extremes there have been contentious battles between doctors and patients that have peaked the curiosity of mainstream media.

In this YouTube video, Katie Couric discusses how certain physicians are trying to bar patients from posting online reviews. This level hand-cuffing is problematic. Patients are unlikely to be comfortable with, let alone honor any demands to keep their opinions offline. And the effects on word-of-mouth referrals isn't difficult to project.

Couric proposes a solution where third party companies would verify the accuracy of all online doctor reviews. In our professional opinion this won't happen any time soon. The logistics, costs and privacy issues are just too complex to untangle.

But, let's just take it as a hypothetical. If the third party solution could be implemented would you support it?

Let us know in the comments section.