How to address negative comments and reviews

Not every organization is free to refute bad reviews or public comments. Here are some deft workarounds for communicators in sensitive industries.

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Communicators are adept in the art of responding to negative online reviews.

It’s a well-known super power; however, how do you respond to online reviews when you can’t really respond?

In some industries—health care, finance or legal services—privacy laws stipulate that a company can’t respond to online reviews because doing so would violate the reviewer’s privacy.

For example, a physician cannot respond to a patient’s online review because doing so would violate the patient’s privacy rights under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA); providers are prohibited from publicly confirming that the reviewer is a patient.

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