Can we ask only happy patients for reviews?

Ask every patient for a review the same way, and never make anything depend on what they write. That's the safe reading of two FTC sources that clinics often mix up:

• The Consumer Review Rule (16 CFR Part 465), in force since October 21, 2024. It lists specific banned practices and lets the FTC seek civil penalties from businesses that break it knowingly.
• The FTC Act and the FTC's Endorsement Guides (16 CFR 255.2). They cover review gating, which the rule doesn't name.

The rule covers any business that sells products or services, so a dental, PT or chiropractic clinic is covered the same as a retailer.

Can we ask only happy patients to post a review?

No. The FTC calls this "review gating": a business asks for feedback first, then invites only the people who gave positive feedback to post a public review. The rule doesn't ban it by name. But when the FTC adopted the rule, it said in plain terms that "review gating can nonetheless violate section 5 of the FTC Act" (89 FR 68034).

The Endorsement Guides give the exact example. A marketer asks recent buyers for feedback and invites only the very positive ones to post reviews; the rest are "simply thanked for their feedback." The FTC says that "may be an unfair or deceptive practice" if it makes the posted reviews substantially more positive. If the marketer had invited all recent buyers instead, it "would not have been unfair or deceptive, even if it had expressed its hope for positive reviews" (16 CFR 255.2, Example 11).

For a clinic, the line is simple. Asking for private feedback is fine. Deciding who gets the review link based on that feedback is the problem.

Can we give patients a gift card or discount for a review?

Not one that depends on the review being positive. The rule bans giving "compensation or other incentives" in exchange for, or conditioned on, a review "expressing a particular sentiment," whether the condition is stated or only implied (§465.4). "Leave us 5 stars and get $10 off" breaks the rule. So does a reward hinted at only for good reviews.

An incentive offered for any honest review isn't banned by the rule. But the FTC says the review should disclose the incentive (FTC guide for marketers). Google's review policy also forbids incentives for reviews on Google, whatever the rating. That's covered on our Google review policy page.

Can staff or their families post reviews of the clinic?

Not without saying who they are. An owner or manager who reviews their own clinic has to clearly disclose that connection. An owner or manager who asks employees or relatives for reviews breaks the rule if those reviews appear without a disclosure and the manager didn't tell them to disclose, discouraged it, or knew or should have known about the reviews and didn't act (§465.5).

There's an exception for the normal case: a request sent to all patients isn't a problem just because a few of them happen to work for you. The rule exempts "generalized solicitations to purchasers," and the FTC confirms this in its Q&A.

Can we write reviews for patients, or post reviews that aren't real?

No. The rule bans writing, creating or buying reviews that misrepresent whether the reviewer exists, whether they were really a patient, or what their experience was (§465.2). The FTC's announcement says this includes AI-generated fake reviews (FTC, Aug 14, 2024).

Can we get a bad review taken down?

Not by threatening the reviewer. The rule bans unfounded legal threats, physical threats, intimidation, and knowingly false public accusations used to stop a review or get it removed (§465.7(a)). If your own website shows patient reviews, you can't hide the negative ones while implying you show all or most of them. You can still remove reviews for reasons applied to every review regardless of rating, such as abusive content, someone else's personal information, or a review you reasonably believe is fake (§465.7(b)).

Separately, the Consumer Review Fairness Act makes patient contracts or forms that bar or penalize honest reviews illegal (FTC).

What happens if a clinic breaks the rule?

The FTC can seek civil penalties of up to $53,088 per violation for knowing violations (FTC, 2025 penalty adjustment). The FTC left that figure unchanged for 2026 (Federal Register, Sept 15, 2026). The agency is already enforcing the rule: on December 22, 2025, FTC staff sent warning letters to ten companies over possible violations (FTC).

What this means for your clinic

• Send every patient the same review request. Don't pick who gets the Google link based on a score, a mood or a hunch.
• Private feedback is fine. Don't use it as a gate. If you ask how the visit went, the public review option should still be there for everyone, including unhappy patients.
• No rewards that depend on the rating. The simplest policy is no rewards at all, which also keeps you inside Google's rules.
• No reviews from staff, family or the owner unless they clearly disclose the connection. Tell your team that in writing.
• Answer bad reviews. Don't threaten them. No legal threats over honest reviews, and nothing in intake paperwork that limits what patients can post. (Replies have their own HIPAA trap. See replying to reviews without PHI.)

How Automynds handles it

Every patient who opted in gets the same text after their visit, at times you choose. Nobody gets filtered out. The text always offers both choices side by side: leave a Google review, or tell the clinic privately. The patient picks. A low score alerts your office manager, but it doesn't take the review link away from anyone. That's the difference between collecting feedback and gating reviews.

We don't offer or run incentives for reviews. Automynds never writes, suggests or prefills review text for patients. Our front-desk script tells your team never to post reviews from staff, family or friends, including the owner.