How incorrect hours, old phone numbers, and broken links are quietly costing you thousands in lost revenue
Your phone rings. A frustrated potential patient is calling: "I drove 30 minutes to your office and you're not even there!" You check your calendar—your office has been at the new location for six months. But Google still shows your old address.
This isn't a hypothetical scenario. It happens every day to medical practices across the country, and it's costing them far more than they realize.
Let's do some math: If incorrect information online causes you to lose just 2 patients per week, and the average patient is worth $500 in lifetime value, that's $52,000 per year in lost revenue. For busy practices, the real number is often much higher.
The Problem: Your Practice Information Lives in Dozens of Places
When was the last time you Googled your own practice? If you haven't done it recently, you might be shocked at what you find. Your practice information exists in more places than you probably realize:
Google Business Profile
Your practice website
Health insurance directories
Healthgrades, Vitals, Zocdoc, and dozens of other medical directories
Social media profiles
Yelp and other review sites
Apple Maps and other mapping services
Hospital or medical group websites
Each of these listings is a potential point of failure. And here's the problem: when something changes—your phone number, your address, your hours, your staff—it needs to be updated everywhere. Miss even one, and patients are getting wrong information.
The Six Most Common (and Costly) Information Errors
1. Incorrect or Disconnected Phone Numbers
The scenario: A patient finds your listing on Google, clicks "Call," and gets a disconnected number. Or worse—they reach your old office, which is now a completely different business.
The cost: Every unreachable patient is a lost appointment. Industry data shows that 67% of patients who can't reach a practice on their first try never call back. They move on to the next provider on their search results.
Why it happens: Practices update their website and Google Business Profile but forget about the 20+ other directories where their old number still appears.
2. Wrong Office Hours
The scenario: Your website says you're open until 6 PM. Google says 5 PM. Healthgrades says you're open Saturdays (you're not). A patient shows up at 5:30 PM to find your doors locked.
The cost: Beyond the lost appointment, you've created a terrible patient experience. That frustrated patient is likely to leave a negative review, tell others about their experience, and never return. The ripple effect can cost you dozens of potential patients.
Why it happens: Hours change seasonally, you add or reduce staff, you close for holidays—and updating this information across every platform where it appears becomes overwhelming.
3. Outdated Address Information
The scenario: You moved offices eight months ago. Your website is updated. But Apple Maps, Bing, and half a dozen medical directories still show your old location. Patients are literally going to the wrong building.
The cost: These aren't just missed appointments—these are angry, frustrated patients who wasted time and gas to show up at an empty office. Some will call you to reschedule. Most won't. They'll find a practice that doesn't send them on wild goose chases.
Why it happens: Address changes are particularly difficult because different mapping services pull from different databases, and some update faster than others. Your listing might be correct on Google but wrong everywhere else for months.
4. Broken Website Links and Features
The scenario: A patient clicks "Schedule Appointment" on your website. The page doesn't load. Or they try to access the patient portal through a link in their email. Error 404. They try to download a form you referenced. Broken link.
The cost: Every broken interaction is a trust violation. Patients wonder: if they can't maintain their website, can I trust them with my healthcare? Broken scheduling links are particularly devastating—that was a patient actively trying to book with you who will now book with someone else.
Why it happens: Websites evolve. Vendors change. Portal URLs update. Someone redesigns the site and forgets to redirect old URLs. No one's regularly testing all the links to make sure they still work.
5. Incorrect Insurance Information
The scenario: Your website lists 15 insurance plans you accept. Problem is, you stopped accepting three of them last year and added four new ones. Patients are making appointments thinking you take their insurance—only to find out at check-in that you don't.
The cost: This is perhaps the most frustrating error for patients. They've taken time off work, driven to your office, and now they can't be seen. Some will pay out of pocket. Most will leave angry and won't return. The negative review is almost guaranteed.
Why it happens: Insurance contracts change annually. Practices add or drop networks. Someone updates the billing system but forgets to update the website and online listings.
6. Old Provider Information
The scenario: A provider left your practice nine months ago. But their profile is still on your website, still showing up in directory listings, still appearing in search results. Patients are calling to schedule with them, only to learn they're gone.
The cost: Some patients will accept seeing a different provider. Many won't—especially if they specifically chose that provider based on their background, specialty, or reviews. Each of these is a lost patient and potentially lost revenue.
Why it happens: When providers leave, practices update internal systems and maybe the website. But their profiles often linger on third-party sites, review platforms, and directories that require individual attention to remove.
The Real Cost: Death by a Thousand Cuts
Here's why this problem is so insidious: each incorrect listing doesn't feel like a crisis. One wrong phone number? No big deal. Hours that are off by 30 minutes? Minor issue. An outdated insurance list? We'll fix it eventually.
But these "minor" issues add up. Consider a typical scenario:
5 patients per week try to call using an old number ? Lost
3 patients per week show up during hours you're closed ? Frustrated, some lost
2 patients per week can't complete online scheduling due to broken links ? Lost
4 patients per week arrive thinking you take their insurance (you don't) ? 2-3 lost
That's potentially 10-13 lost patients per week. At an average lifetime value of $500 per patient, that's $260,000 to $338,000 in lost annual revenue.
And that's just from information errors. It doesn't count the damage to your reputation, the negative reviews, or the word-of-mouth impact of frustrated patients telling friends and family about their bad experiences.
Why This Problem Keeps Happening (Even to Well-Run Practices)
If you're reading this and thinking "We've tried to fix this," you're not alone. This isn't a failure of intention—it's a failure of systems. Here's why the problem persists:
The Update Process Is Overwhelming
When something changes in your practice, updating it everywhere requires:
Remembering every platform where your information appears
Finding login credentials for sites you haven't accessed in months
Navigating each platform's different update process
Waiting for changes to be approved or verified
Following up to make sure changes actually went through
For a busy medical practice, this can take 4-6 hours per update. So updates get delayed, or done partially, or forgotten entirely.
No One Owns the Problem
In most practices, online information management falls into a gray area:
The front desk updates the phone system
The office manager handles the website
Someone else manages Google Business Profile
Nobody manages the 20+ other directories
Without clear ownership and accountability, information gets updated inconsistently across platforms.
You Don't Know What You Don't Know
Most practices have no idea how many places their information appears online. Every time you:
Join an insurance network (they add you to their directory)
Get listed in a health system directory
Register on a review platform
Get scraped by a medical directory site
...your information proliferates. Some of these listings you created. Some were created automatically. Either way, they all need to be maintained.
The Solution: Systematic Information Management
Fixing this problem isn't about trying harder. It's about having the right system in place. Here's what that looks like:
1. Audit Your Current Online Presence
Start by finding out where your information actually appears:
Google your practice name + location
Search for your providers individually
Check major directories (Google, Yelp, Healthgrades, Vitals, Zocdoc)
Review insurance provider directories
Check mapping services (Google Maps, Apple Maps, Bing)
Document every listing, what information it shows, and whether it's accurate.
2. Create a Single Source of Truth
Maintain one master document with all current practice information:
All phone numbers and extensions
Complete address information
Hours of operation (including holidays)
Provider information
Services offered
Insurance accepted
When anything changes, update this document first. Then use it to systematically update all online listings.
3. Implement Regular Monitoring
Don't wait for patients to tell you information is wrong:
Monthly: Check your top 10 listings (Google, website, major directories)
Quarterly: Review all known listings
After any change: Verify updates went through everywhere
Test functionality: Try scheduling online, accessing portals, calling phone numbers
4. Assign Clear Ownership
Someone needs to own this process—either an internal team member with dedicated time or an external partner who specializes in it. This isn't something that can be done "whenever someone has time."
The Bottom Line: This Isn't Marketing, It's Patient Care
When patients can't reach you, can't find you, or arrive to find you closed, you're not just losing business—you're failing to serve people who are actively trying to access care. In some cases, these people may be in pain or dealing with urgent health concerns.
Accurate online information isn't about search engine optimization or digital marketing. It's about basic accessibility. It's about making it easy for patients to connect with your practice when they need you.
The practices that treat their online presence as infrastructure—not an afterthought—are the ones that grow. They're not losing patients to information errors. They're not dealing with angry reviews about wrong hours. They're not watching potential revenue walk away because of a disconnected phone number.
Fix your online information, and you're not just improving marketing—you're removing barriers to care. And that benefits everyone.
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Want to Know What Information About Your Practice Is Wrong Online?
We help medical practices identify and fix information errors across all major platforms. Our comprehensive website audit includes:
Complete audit of your online presence (website, Google, directories, review sites)
Identification of all incorrect or outdated information
Assessment of broken links and functionality issues
Detailed report with prioritized fixes
Then, if you want us to, we'll handle fixing everything for you—and keep it maintained ongoing so it never happens again.
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