Fortress, a surgeon digital marketing agency specializing in SEO strategies, announced its latest service expansion—comprehensive SEO for plastic surgeons. The service is designed to help private practices build a strong online presence through advanced SEO and web development offerings that enhance visibility, drive more consultations, and support long-term practice growth.

Industry Expertise in Healthcare SEO

Founded by Gerrid Smith, digital marketing expert, Fortress reportedly brings over a decade of SEO expertise to the healthcare industry.

Multi-Layered Approach to Digital Marketing

Fortress takes a multi-layered approach to digital marketing, combining SEO with web development strategies.. SEO strategies for plastic surgeons include:

• Targeted keyword optimization to rank for high-intent searches (e.g., “best plastic surgeon near me”)
• Content marketing that highlights expertise, patient success stories, and surgical innovations
• Local SEO strategies to boost visibility in Google Business Profile (GBP) listings and Maps results
• Reputation management to build trust and authority through patient reviews and testimonials

Custom web development offerings for plastic surgeons include:

• High-converting plastic surgery website design optimized for patient engagement
• Fast, mobile-friendly, and SEO-optimized pages that improve search rankings
• Integrated appointment booking and lead capture systems
• ADA-compliant designs for accessibility and compliance

Data-Driven SEO and Patient Engagement

Fortress reportedly uses advanced on-page and off-page SEO, AI-driven analytics, and a deep understanding of patient behavior to ensure that clients see real, measurable results.

Addressing Marketing Challenges for Plastic Surgeons

Surgeons face unique challenges in traditional plastic surgery marketing, from competing with corporate practices to building trust with prospective patients. Fortress says it develops customized digital strategies that elevate surgeons’ online visibility and position them as leading specialists in their field.

Free Consultations for Plastic Surgeons

Fortress offers free consultations to discuss tailored online marketing strategies for their practice.

Photo: ID 139681214 © Alexandersikov | Dreamstime.com

Key Takeaways:

• 84% of patients check online reviews before selecting a healthcare provider, and 40% have reconsidered or canceled appointments due to reviews.
• Negative reviews outweigh personal recommendations for 61% of patients, emphasizing the power of online reputation.
• Providers who actively engage with reviews—both positive and negative—can improve patient trust and practice success.

Rater8, a healthcare reputation management company, released a new report highlighting the growing influence of online reviews in patient decision-making. Based on a survey of more than 1,000 patients aged 18 to 60+ from across the United States, the report sheds light on how reviews and other factors shape healthcare choices in 2025.

Patients Check Reviews Before Choosing a Provider

The survey found that 84 percent of patients check online reviews before selecting a healthcare provider, with more than half (51 percent) reading at least six reviews before making a decision. Additionally, 40 percent of patients said that reviews have led them to cancel appointments or reconsider providers. Despite the influence of reviews, 57 percent of patients admitted they do not leave feedback for their providers.

Key Survey Findings on Patient Decision-Making

Other key findings from rater8’s survey include:

• 26 percent of patients are considering changing providers in 2025.
• 61 percent of patients stated that negative reviews would override personal recommendations.
• Primary care providers were identified as the easiest to change (64 percent), compared to specialists like dermatologists (32 percent) and ophthalmologists (22 percent).
• 45 percent of patients said a provider’s response to reviews would influence their choice.
• 26 percent of patients said they are unlikely to leave reviews unless asked by their provider, while 47 percent are most likely to submit a review within one day of their appointment.

The Importance of Provider Engagement with Reviews

“Patients have high standards for care, and they have no qualms about changing providers when their needs aren’t met. We’ve found that physicians and practices being actively involved in soliciting, managing, and engaging with reviews makes a difference,” said Evan Steele, founder and CEO of rater8. “And, while for many everyday things a personal recommendation would still trump online reviews, our survey indicated this is not the case when people are making healthcare decisions.”

How Responding to Reviews Shapes Patient Perceptions

Steele added, “In a landscape where online recommendations are so critical to practice success, driving patients to leave online reviews is just the beginning. Responding to negative reviews helps patients see the full picture from both sides, and responding to positive reviews helps incentivize patients to continue sharing their positive stories about the practice. Providers who are not actively engaging with the reviews they receive are missing an enormous opportunity in the continued evolution of patient expectations and care.”

Photo: ID 83798151 © Rido | Dreamstime.com

“We’re thrilled to extend our digital marketing offerings into the cosmetic services space,” said David Kocher, chief customer officer at RevenueWell, which acquired PBHS is 2021. “Our mission has always been to equip practices with the tools they need to drive results and growth, and now we’re extending that same commitment to new verticals including cosmetic surgery, dermatology, and medical spa professionals. By formally expanding on our existing capabilities in SEO, social media, paid media, and websites to more cosmetic services customers, we’re enabling these practices to enhance patient acquisition and retention while building their brand presence. This expansion helps streamline marketing efforts, so providers can focus on delivering exceptional care, growing their practice, and elevating their reputation in an increasingly competitive landscape.” 

According to a press release from the company, the digital marketing solutions from PBHS will provide cosmetic clients access to professionally designed, high-performing websites that help turn visitors into patients. In addition, PBHS reportedly will also focus on providing optimized SEO strategies, targeted advertising services through Pay-per-Click (PPC) advertising on search engines and Meta ads, combined with social media content creation and management, to foster authentic patient relationships and build brand awareness. 

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Medical volunteers and philanthropic supporters, including MTF Biologics, enable Mission Plasticos to provide free allograft tissue for reconstructive breast surgery. This ensures access to surgery for women regardless of their economic situation, organization officials say.

“At MTF Biologics, we are committed to advancing healthcare through innovative solutions and impactful collaborations, and are proud of our work with Mission Plasticos, an organization that shares our vision of making a positive difference in the world,” says Joe Yaccarino, CEO of MTF Biologics. “As the 2023 Corporate Humanitarian Honoree, we are truly honored to be recognized for our efforts.”

“Together,” Yaccarino says, “we are addressing the challenges to improve the lives of women during their difficult journey with breast cancer, empowering them to lead healthier, happier, and more fulfilling lives.”

Susan Williamson, executive director at Mission Plasticos, also spoke out about the gala, commenting: “Without corporations like MTF Biologics and their philanthropic investments, we would not be able to provide treatment to as many patients as we currently do. Their dedication to ensuring that every woman receives a full journey of care is a quality that we at Mission Plasticos deeply appreciate and for which we are immensely grateful.”

Now available to its 27,000+ customers, Weave’s AI-driven Email Assistant reportedly provides an innovative way for healthcare providers to communicate and connect with their patients and clients. Users input the themes that need to be covered in the email and the Weave Email Assistant will generate the email text in a matter of seconds, according to the company. The email text can then be edited before sending. As the company puts it, this tool allows healthcare providers to quickly create, personalize, and automate email marketing campaigns, resulting in improved patient engagement and retention, a higher patient growth rate, and increased awareness of services offered by a practice. 

“With digital marketing becoming an essential part of running a healthcare business, it’s important to provide simple and effective AI-driven solutions to our customers,” said Branden Neish, chief product and technology officer at Weave. “With Email Assistant, we reduce both the time requirement and anxiety often associated with creating an email marketing campaign. By harnessing the power of AI, we aim to empower healthcare providers to deliver exceptional patient experiences that drive patient loyalty and business growth.”

According to Weave, email marketing is an essential and often overlooked marketing avenue. The company cites a study from HubSpot, email marketing generates, on average, $36 of new business for every $1 spent, and 59% of consumers say that email marketing campaigns influence their purchasing decisions. 

“Our study also identifies some sources of bias that may affect patients” perceptions of their care – although the plastic surgeon’s gender or race doesn”t appear to affect the overall quality ratings,” comments senior author Brent R. DeGeorge, MD, PhD, of University of Virginia in Charlottesville.

Five-Star Vs. One-Star Ratings

The researchers analyzed 5,210 Yelp reviews of plastic surgery provider practices from 49 cities across the United States. Reviews were coded for the presence of positive and negative themes. Surgeon- and practice-related factors associated with positive or negative ratings were identified, including the effects of the physician’s race and gender.

Eighty percent of reviews included in the analysis were five-star reviews, indicating the highest level of patient satisfaction. Another 13.5% were one-star reviews, reflecting the lowest patient satisfaction. Two- to four-star ratings accounted for only about 6% of reviews. In positive reviews, the most frequently mentioned surgeon-related factors were the surgical outcomes achieved, the physician’s temperament, the physician’s competency and knowledge, and physician-patient communication.

“Patients with positive experiences emphasized having results that looked natural and matched the look they had discussed with the physician prior to surgery,” DeGeorge and colleagues write. “Patients felt most comfortable with physicians who gave thorough explanations of the procedures beforehand, often spending several hours over multiple consultation sessions.”

How Online Reviews Can Improve the Patient Experience

In adjusted analyses, positive physician factors associated with higher Yelp ratings were surgical outcomes, physical exam/procedures, injectable outcomes, competency and knowledge, and temperament. Negative mentions of the same factors were linked to lower Yelp ratings, along with cost consciousness.

On analysis of practice-related factors, interactions with office staff and issues related to scheduling significantly affected whether patients left positive or negative reviews. Additional negative practice-related factors included billing/insurance issues and wait times. The study “corroborates the results of past studies, which have found that practice factors such as wait time and courtesy of registration staff were correlated with a patient’s likelihood to highly rate a practice,” according to the authors.

Yelp ratings were not significantly associated with the physician’s race or gender. While that’s an encouraging finding, the researchers note some differences in both positive and negative factors related to race and gender. “Further research is needed to identify the effect of patient characteristics on their ratings and reviews of providers,” DeGeorge and colleagues write.

While noting some limitations of the study—including the inherent subjectivity of online ratings—the researchers believe their analysis lends new insights into the range of physician- and practice-related factors influencing patient perceptions of quality of care. 

DeGeorge and coauthors conclude: “Plastic surgeons can learn from patient ratings and reviews to develop initiatives to improve the patient experience and learn more about general biases held by patients as the field becomes more diverse.”

Helping Burn Victims in Ukraine

Ukraine has a high number of burn victims across the country. Most patients come from areas that don’t have a safe way to heat their homes, have unsafe cooking situations, unsafe water heaters setup, or other unsafe living conditions which result in serious burns. Their living conditions have been made worse by the conflict, with the demand for procedures increasing.

But this is where Brown and his team come in. Each year, Brown selects two plastic surgery residents from the University of Michigan to accompany him on a trip to Ukraine to assist Ukrainian surgeons in burn procedures.

Due to the ongoing conflict in Ukraine though, this year’s trip instead headed to to the Independent Public Health Care Facility in Lecnza, Poland. “Despite not being able to enter Ukraine, I felt that it is important to continue with the trip and make every effort to help where we could,” says Brown. “We were able to successfully operate on some difficult pediatric cases and set these children up to continue to grow into healthy adults.”

Treatment Across the Border

Typically, the group performs around 50 procedures over the course of a week. But this year, 21 pediatric patients needed extensive, complex surgeries. The nonprofit group who funded the trip, Doctors Collaborating to Help Children, paid for the patients’ travel expenses to cross the border and receive their treatment.

“Normally we are going to the children in their own country. Being in Poland changed how much this trip would cost so we had to be selective,” says Brown. “Some of the children we saw traveled over 30 hours to come receive treatment.”

Artem Posunko, MD, a plastic surgeon from the Regional Medical Center of Family Health in Dnipro, Ukraine, helped Brown and his team identify children across Ukraine that would benefit from the team’s work and needed to be operated on soon due to burns inhibiting their quality of life.

The burns endured by some of these patients were all in locations that were inhibiting their bodies to grow, – such as the backs of their legs or on their hands. Without proper removal of the scar tissue, their skin would not be able to rejuvenate, resulting in difficulty walking or completing daily tasks as they grew older.

“The surgeons in Ukraine are more than capable of performing these procedures, the issue lies in a lack of ability to get proper supplies,” says Brown. “We rely on their team to guide us to the severest cases, and they rely on our team to bring supplies that they may have limited access to that are needed to perform these procedures. We aim to work with the Ukrainian surgeons, not for them.”

In tandem with Polish surgeons, Brown and plastic surgery residents from U-M, Gina Sacks, MD, and Alfred Yoon, MD, worked alongside a team of 10 who traveled from Shriners Children’s Boston, Harvard University, Washington University, and places in Texas to assist in reconstructing the skin of these patients.

Yoon recalled the positive attitude of one patient after a particularly difficult procedure. “I was amazed at the resilience and strength of the children of Ukraine. Even the day after a complex hand reconstruction, the children were moving around and smiling as if nothing happened,” says Yoon. “It was evident that because of the war and resulting adversities, their personalities have hardened, and they did not consider recovering from surgery to be difficult at all.”

The team noticed many similar reactions from patients and their families as well. Despite the complexity of the procedures, or the pain of the recovery, they expressed gratitude towards the team for providing such care.

Leaving an Impact

Brown describes his experience as a double-edged sword. “The high case load combined with the jet lag can be physically exhausting, but the experience is true and raw,” he says. “Sometimes you lose sight of how much of a difference this work can make when you are consistently performing operations here in the United States. Seeing the difference these procedures make not only in the lives of the patients but also their families remind you how meaningful this work is.”

Yoon shares a similar sentiment. “Experiences like this brings me back to why I first embarked on this journey to become a surgeon, for the patient,” he says.

Brown hopes to continue participating in these trips with other Michigan Medicine residents for years to come. “I’m grateful to the Doctors Collaborating to Help Children foundation for making these trips possible,” says Brown. “Seeing the impact our work has on these children is a truly heartwarming and grounding experience.”

Featured image: The group poses outside the Independent Public Health Care Facility in Lecnza, Poland.

With substantial support from Corbel Capital Partners, Premier unites board-certified surgeons in a physician-centric approach, aiming to minimize risks, facilitate growth, and enhance professional legacies.

The company, headquartered in California with practices on both coasts, was founded by three physicians: Jeffrey H. Spiegel, MD, FACS, founder of The Spiegel Center in Newton, Mass.; Ross A. Clevens, MD, FACS, founder of Clevens Face and Body Specialists in Melbourne, Fla.; and Stephen J. Ronan, MD, FACS, founder of Blackhawk Plastic Surgery & Medspa in the San Francisco area. Veteran healthcare executive Matthew Kirchner will serve as CEO.

“Private Equity partnerships are new to plastic surgery, despite having matured in multiple other medical specialties,” Ronan says. “Make no mistake, the private equity wave will be swift and create massive change in our industry. Surgeons finally have a legitimate exit plan for all the investment and work we have put into our practices. Our team can’t wait to build a leading platform for our colleagues as well as enhance our industry relationships.” 

“The opportunity in the aesthetic space is significant, and I am excited to work with our founding physicians and Corbel to build the best partnership for aesthetic practices in the country,” adds Kirchner. “We partner with leading practices to reduce their cost structure, ease operational burdens, and provide capital to scale operations. Corbel’s speed of execution, flexibility, collaboration, and strategic perspectives are critical for us as we aim to grow aggressively in the coming years.”

While the number of women-owned businesses in the country continues to grow, and is now estimated at 42% of all businesses in the U.S., there is more work to be done, particularly in helping ideas translate into business opportunities addressing the so-called “confidence gap.”

“There were so many remarkable applications that featured thoughtful business solutions,” says Carrie Strom, president, Global Allergan Aesthetics and senior vice president, AbbVie. “BOTOX Cosmetic was born out of the entrepreneurial spirit and its more than 20-year history is rooted in people seeing a challenge and finding an answer. Each of the women selected to receive a grant saw a need for change, and set out to make a positive difference in the world. We are thrilled to celebrate them and support their businesses.”

In the coming months, the grant recipients will engage in a 10-week Crowdfunding Accelerator Program and learn from experts in various fields. The intensive coaching program curriculum will include important business topics such as network mapping, content marketing, social media, public relations, and crowdfunding for their business, helping them to further refine and optimize their strategies. In addition to the IFundWomen coaches, leaders from BOTOX Cosmetic will be joining the coaching staff for the Accelerator Program, which is a first for IFundWomen’s partnerships. 

“As a woman entrepreneur myself, I know how hard it can be to overcome the ‘Confidence Gap.’ Every day we find ourselves questioning if we have what it takes, and sometimes all we need to find that resounding ‘yes’ is a little bit of affirmation from the outside world,” says Michelle Henry, MD, FAAD, board-certified dermatologist, Mohs Surgeon and founder of skin and aesthetic surgery of Manhattan. “I am honored to be a part of the advisory group alongside my peers to help provide these women with that affirmation. Each one of these women and their businesses are doing important work and are so deserving of these grants.”

In addition to Henry, the entrepreneur healthcare professionals who aided in the grant recipient selection included Camille G. Cash, MD, board-certified plastic surgeon and founder of Camille G. Cash, MD Aesthetic Plastic Surgery; Shawna Chrisman, nurse practitioner and founder of Destination Aesthetics™; Terrence Keaney, MD, FAAD, board-certified dermatologist and founder of SkinDC; Caroline Robinson, MD, FAAD, board-certified dermatologist and founder of Tone Dermatology; Sherly Soleiman, MD, board-certified physician and founder and medical director of Cosmetic Injectables Center; and Yvette Suarez, MD, FAAMM, board-certified physician and founder and owner of Bella Excellence. 

The grant winners and their businesses are:

• Adorn Me Africa: Elorm Dela-Seshie (Boston)—@adornmeafrica
• Association of Military Spouse Entrepreneurs: Monika Jefferson (Hampton, Va.) —@amseagency
• BlackTravelBox^®: Orion Brown (Denver.)—@blacktravelbox
• Bri’s Dance Place:  Brianna Hairlson (Gary, Ind.) —@brisdanceplace
• Everviolet: Keira Kotler (San Anselmo, Calif.) —@everviolet
• Fourplay Social: Danielle Dietzek and Julie Griggs (New York, N.Y.)—@fourplaydating
• Grounded: Danuelle Doswell and Mignon Hemsley (Washington, D.C.)—@groun.ded
• InFlow Entertainment: Lisa Crnic (Los Angeles)—@inflow_entertainment
• Kola Goodies: Sajani Amarasiri (San Francisco) —@kolagoodies
• Love Cork Screw: Chrishon Lampley (Chicago) —@lovecorkscrew
• Makhers Studio: Wanona Satcher (Atlanta) —@makhersstudio
• Money News Network: Nicole Lapin (Los Angeles) —@moneynews
• No Limbits: Erica Cole (Richmond, Va.) —@no.limbits
• Nomads Swimwear: Taylor Long (Atlanta)—@nomadsswimwear
• Postal Petals: Talia Boone (Los Angeles) —@postalpetals
• Progeny Coffee: Maria Palacio (Palo Alto, Calif.)—@progeny_coffee
• Southern Roots Vegan Bakery: Cara Pitts (Converse, Texas) —@southernrootsbiz
• SWAIR: Carrie Sporer and Meredith Krill (New York City) —@swairhair
• The Coven: Alex Steinman and Erinn Farrell (Minneapolis)—@thecoven.co
• TJL Collection: Tiffany Jones Lewis (Arlington, Texas) —@tjl_collection