Frequently Asked Questions

  • What is Whitecoat?

    Whitecoat is Australia’s largest healthcare provider directory. Thousands of patients use Whitecoat every week to find a local healthcare provider. We’d like to encourage you to claim your Whitecoat profile so these patients can learn more about you and the services you provide.

  • What does Whitecoat offer?

    Whitecoat offers you the opportunity to promote your business and services to an engaged and sizable audience. It’s particularly useful for people who have moved to a new area or need treatment for a service for the first time.

    • Let patients learn more about you and the services you provide by completing your biography and business details
    • Take advantage of a cost effective 24/7 online booking option
  • How can I join?

    Simply by claiming your profile, click the link https://www.whitecoat.com.au/providers/register

    Find your profile, set up a user name & password then complete your profile page with your biography, opening hours, website & more. The more detail you add, the more patients searching will know about you. By claiming your profile and setting up Online Appointments you will appear higher in the search rankings.

    There may be a cost to claim your Whitecoat profile. You will be notified of this during the sign up process.

    If you can't find your profile, please contact our Customer Support team by calling 1300 717 240 and a member of our team will assist you.

  • How do I manage my profile information?

    First you need to claim your Whitecoat profile here then you’ll be able to:

    • Include your business details (opening hours, services and facilities provided, contact numbers, email address etc)
    • Update your personal details (name, gender and languages spoken)
    • Choose whether or not to display the written customer reviews
    • Receive written customer reviews before they are published to Whitecoat. If you practice out of multiple locations, you’ll have a profile for each of your practice locations. You can use one email address to link and manage each of your profiles.
  • Can my profile be removed from Whitecoat?

    No, you can’t opt out of Whitecoat.

    Your Whitecoat profile includes basic directory information, such as your practice location and phone number, which will always be displayed. Additional Provider Profile information (such as opening hours, billing methods etc) can be added or removed by logging into your account and modifying your Provider Profile details.

    You can elect not to display patient comments. You can remove these by logging into your account and changing your Provider Profile settings. If you choose to remove these items from display, any member of the public viewing your Provider Profile will be notified that you have elected to remove these items from display on Whitecoat.

  • My address is incorrect how can I change it?

    Log in to the Provider Portal at https://providerportal.whitecoat.com.au/login using your username and password, select edit my profile, then scroll down to practice details & enter your new address. Scroll to the bottom and click the Save button.

  • How does Whitecoat’s Search algorithm work?

    There are 3 possible ways to conduct a search on Whitecoat, they are outlined below:

    Use case 1 - "My Location"
    My Location search attempts to get at least the closest 50 results to your current location. Results that are close by are sorted by overall rating. After that, further results are added in order of distance from you.

    Use case 2 - "Selected Suburb/postcode"
    When you pick a suburb from the list, it gets all the results geo-located in, or close to, the selected suburb. Results that are close by (in or around your suburb) are sorted by overall rating. After that, further results are added in order of distance from that suburb.

    Use case 3 - "Free Text Search"
    When you type in some search text and don’t pick a suburb from the list, it will search several fields of information for that text, including the suburb name. For example, ‘Sydney’ will return people and businesses with that in their name as well as those whose suburb name is Sydney. This does not use geo-location at all. They are ordered by overall rating.

  • How are the search results ordered?

    The results that match the search criteria will be displayed in the following default order:

    1. Provider completing their profile
    2. Online appointment system activated for easy patient bookings
    3. Most reviews
    4. Average Rating
  • Can I do anything to improve my search ranking?

    Yes - there are many things you can do to improve your search ranking including:

    1. Make sure your profile is up to date
    2. Patients are more likely to book with providers that have profile photos, so make sure you upload a recent profile photo
    3. Include your opening & closing hours
    4. Activate online appointments

    You can call or email Whitecoat directly for further tips on managing your profile.

  • From where is your suburb mapping information sourced?

    Our suburb mapping information is supplied by, and is copyright of, FindMap.

  • What can I do if I have a safety or security concern as a result of my address and contact number being published on Whitecoat?

    Whitecoat takes the privacy of providers very seriously. We have invested heavily to ensure the privacy of individual providers who are listed on Whitecoat is protected.

    If a provider has safety or security concern as a result of their address or contact number being published on Whitecoat they should contact the Whitecoat team on 1300 717 240 or email PrivacyOfficer@whitecoat.com.au to discuss their options.

  • Who is the advertiser, and therefore, who is responsible for complying with section 133?

    The advertiser (individual or corporate entity) is responsible for compliance with section 133. The advertiser is the person (individual or entity) that has control of the advertising. An advertiser is deemed to have control of the advertising if they publish or authorise content or direct someone to publish or draft content (including a third party, a patient, staff member or marketing agency) or if there is a mechanism for the advertiser to modify or remove content published by an unrelated publisher.

    Whitecoat is the advertiser, not the practitioner. Should a practitioner adopt the new feature, they also become the advertiser and are responsible for complying with section 133.

  • Am I breaching the AHPRA guidelines?

    Registration on Whitecoat does not breach the law regarding testimonials, and Whitecoat has frequently consulted with a range of industry bodies and stakeholders, including the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (AHPRA) and the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) to seek their guidance around customer reviews.

    We are confident that because Whitecoat operates as a forum for patients to share their views about their customer service experience, health practitioners will not be considered to be engaging in advertising contrary to the law.

    Whitecoat seeks feedback from customers in an objective, contemporaneous manner, and as the individual provider does not seek the review this is not a breach of the law. The objective questions are based on customer experience and are not clinical in nature, and all comments are moderated to ensure compliance with all laws, including clinical feedback.

    All Whitecoat reviews are also moderated to ensure that they remain anonymous and ethical.

  • Are there paid practitioner results surfaced in search results?

    Searches performed on the Whitecoat Healthcare Directory website may return paid for preferred provider links at the top of the page along with the search results.

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