Google My Business has been increasing the number of healthcare-specific features available to medical businesses and practitioners. In addition to multiple virtual care and COVID-19 related fields, in 2020, Google search began displaying insurance information on Knowledge Panels.
This feature is displayed on both search and maps, shows below the phone number on select listings, and says, ‘Check insurance info’.
Upon clicking on this, you will get a pop-up that shows you the list of accepted insurance providers. Google adds a note to verify the insurance information first and lists the practice’s phone number. The notice states: ‘Always independently verify insurance coverage, provider participation, and coverage terms. This may not reflect all insurance accepted by the provider and is for informational purposes only.’
When this insurance feature was first launched, there were no direct methods to add your insurance information. As with many other fields on your GMB profile, Google is likely sourcing the initial insurance data from a 3rd party. If businesses need to report errors, there is a ‘send feedback’ option that displays at the bottom of the insurance information panel.
In the 4.8 version of the Google My Business API, GMB launched the ability to manage Health Provider Attributes and Insurance Network information. Healthcare organizations can now do this directly or can leverage a GMB partner that has this built functionality.
Additionally, in early 2021, users began reporting that they were seeing a new field in the Google My Business Dashboard that allows them to edit and display insurance information under the section titled, ‘Accepted Health Insurance’.
There are still plenty of users reporting that they don’t have this field available for their healthcare listings so it seems to be a slow rollout. I would imagine we will see more healthcare-related categories with this field later in 2021. I’ve seen this feature on a variety of different healthcare-related categories including hospitals, clinics, doctors, and massage therapists so I’d guess that Google will make this available to all categories within the healthcare vertical that could accept insurance.
I’ve also heard businesses report missing options for insurance carriers displayed in GMB. As this is a new feature, I’d expect changes and enhancements over the next few months to this field but users can always send feedback within the tool.
