Clinic Directory vs Healthgrades

Clinic Directory is a web directory for finding health clinics and specialized practitioners across Canada, and for routing referrals to selected or matched independent clinics. Users can search thousands of clinics and practitioners. Clinic listings can be compared by amenities, combined ratings, and direct billing options; practitioner filters include gender, languages, specialties, and acceptance of new patients. Clinic owners can claim a free profile to manage details and appear in local search. The directory aggregates publicly available clinic business information, including contact details, hours, and services. Clinic Directory says it is not a healthcare provider or health information custodian. It cannot provide medical advice, pass along clinical questions, or book, change, or cancel appointments. Its privacy policy describes handling personal information under PIPEDA and Alberta and British Columbia PIPA. The site says it uses encryption at rest, HTTPS, and separation between its public frontend and backend routing engine; intake personal identifiers are cleared after 30 days. Support is by email, with a stated aim to reply within one business day, but there is no phone line or overnight or weekend coverage. The free listing plan costs nothing; paid plans include Essentials at C$29 a month and Featured at C$99 a month.

Healthgrades helps people find doctors and hospitals, review provider information and arrange appointments. Doctor searches can be narrowed by insurance, distance, availability, patient reviews, gender, age and specialty. Users with an account can save doctors and request or book online appointments for featured doctors. The service is available on Android, iOS and the web, and also offers articles, appointment guides, slideshows, videos and quizzes about conditions and procedures. Healthgrades says its profiles feature more than 10 million patient ratings, with reviews confirmed and audited before publication. Each provider listed in the National Provider Identifier Registry has a free profile that providers can claim and add details to. Hospitals and medical groups can pay to promote provider profiles, which are marked sponsored. The free consumer service is advertiser supported. Providers can subscribe to an Elevated Profile for $49.95 a month; that subscription renews automatically until canceled. Healthgrades Choice considers experience, hospital quality, patient satisfaction and medical sanctions, and providers cannot pay for or influence the designation. Patient Favorite has separate rating, review, licensing and sanctions requirements.