Healthgrades vs Vitals

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.

Vitals helps patients find physicians and schedule appointments through its website and mobile apps. Users can search by specialty, condition, or procedure and location, and look for doctors who accept insurance including Medicare and Medicaid. The homepage lists Chat Now and Video Visit appointment options and reports more than 9 million provider reviews. Vitals says it displays moderated reviews submitted on its site and limits each user to rating a doctor once a month. Its listings cover actively licensed physicians in the United States, and Vitals says listings are not removed or suppressed upon request. Provider information is gathered from sources such as state medical boards, federal websites, hospitals, doctors, surveys, business alliances, and third-party affiliates. Physicians or their staff members can claim a provider profile. Consumers can use Vitals to find, research, and compare providers for free. Vitals describes the website as informational and says it should not be relied on for medical diagnosis or treatment.