It can be tempting for a business to push back on a negative review on social media. However, health care providers cannot disclose patients’ protected health information (PHI) in response to negative reviews posted on social media.
In June 2016, a patient filed a complaint with the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services Office for Civil Rights (OCR) alleging that their dental service provider had responded to the patient’s social media review on Yelp by disclosing the patient’s last name and details of their health condition. The OCR investigation found the dental office had disclosed PHI of multiple patients