Negative reviews are unavoidable in healthcare. How you respond matters more than the negative review itself, because future patients read your response more carefully than the original complaint.
Yes, respond to every negative review within 24 hours without exception. Ignoring a negative review signals that patient concerns are not important to you. Future patients reading the review see both the complaint and your silence, and many interpret non-response as validation of the complaint.
Acknowledge the concern, express that the patient experience matters to your practice, and offer to resolve the issue offline with contact information. Never argue, never discuss clinical specifics publicly for HIPAA reasons, and never make excuses. A professional, empathetic response demonstrates maturity and often reassures future patients more than the negative review harmed trust.
Google will only remove reviews that violate its policies: spam, off-topic content, fake reviews, or content with conflicts of interest. A genuine negative patient experience, even an unfair one, cannot be removed. Flag reviews that clearly violate policy, but focus energy on generating new positive reviews rather than fighting individual negatives.
Research suggests that patients are forgiving of isolated negative reviews when the overall rating is strong. A practice with 4.6 stars and 80 reviews with one negative among many positives is generally trusted. The same negative review among 8 total reviews is far more damaging. Volume and recency of positives matter enormously.