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Reviews Policy

Last updated: May 5, 2026

Patient reviews on AdvOrtho are user-generated content. They reflect the personal experiences and opinions of the patient who wrote them — not the views of AdvOrtho. This page explains how reviews work, how we moderate them, and how providers can respond to or dispute a review.

1. How Reviews Are Submitted

Anyone with a valid email address may submit a review of a provider listed on AdvOrtho. To prevent spam and impersonation, every review goes through email verification:

  • The reviewer enters a name, email, rating (1–5 stars), and optional title and body.
  • We send a verification link to the email provided. The review is not published until that link is clicked.
  • After verification, the review enters our moderation queue.

We do not require reviewers to provide proof of an in-person visit. We rely on the integrity of the email verification step and post-publication moderation.

2. Moderation Criteria

What we approve:

  • Patient experiences described in good faith, including criticism.
  • Opinions about wait times, communication, bedside manner, office staff, and general experience.
  • Factual reports about scheduling, billing, or follow-up care.

What we remove:

  • Spam, advertising, or commercial solicitations.
  • Threats, personal attacks, harassment, or hate speech.
  • Personally identifying information about other patients (names, photos, medical details that could identify a third party).
  • Reviews from competitors or fake accounts when we have reasonable evidence of non-patient origin.
  • Content that violates applicable law, including specific allegations of malpractice presented as established fact (these belong in regulatory or legal channels, not consumer reviews).

What we leave up: Honest negative reviews. Disagreement with the provider's judgment. Strong opinions, even unfair ones. The platform is not the right venue to suppress criticism.

3. Provider Response and Dispute Process

Providers cannot edit or delete a review themselves. If you believe a review violates this policy or contains a false factual claim, you may dispute it:

  1. Email support@advortho.org from the email address associated with your AdvOrtho provider account.
  2. Include the patient name shown on the review, the date posted, and a specific explanation of why you believe the review violates this policy.
  3. An administrator will review the dispute within 10 business days.

What we do with disputes:

  • Clear policy violations (spam, threats, doxxing, fake accounts) — we remove the review.
  • Specific provably-false factual claims with evidence — we remove if the evidence is sufficient. The bar is high; opinion alone is not provably false.
  • Disagreement with patient experience — the review stays. You may post a public response (see below).

Decisions are final at the administrator level. We do not provide a public adjudication record for individual disputes.

4. Public Provider Responses

Verified providers may post a single public response per review through their AdvOrtho dashboard. Responses are subject to the same moderation criteria as reviews. We strongly recommend:

  • Do not include patient identifying information beyond what the reviewer disclosed.
  • Do not discuss specific medical details that may violate patient confidentiality, even if the patient referenced them.
  • Stay professional. Personal attacks reflect on you more than on the reviewer.

5. Section 230 Notice

AdvOrtho is an interactive computer service under 47 U.S.C. § 230. Reviews are user-generated content. AdvOrtho does not adopt, endorse, or independently verify factual claims made by reviewers. Moderation decisions made under this policy are good-faith content moderation actions and do not constitute editorial endorsement of any specific review.

Providers who believe a review is defamatory should pursue claims directly against the reviewer, not against AdvOrtho. AdvOrtho will respond to lawful subpoenas and court orders for reviewer identifying information consistent with our Privacy Policy.

6. Removing Your Own Review

Reviewers who wish to remove a review they posted may email support@advortho.org from the email address used to submit the review. We process review-removal requests from the original author within 10 business days.

7. Updates to This Policy

We may update this policy from time to time. Material changes are reflected in the “Last updated” date above.