[3] Prior to founding Healthgrades, Hicks served as CEO of its predecessor company, Specialty Care Network.

[12] Healthgrades merged with CPM Marketing Group, a Madison, Wisconsin based company that provides customer relationship management solutions to hospitals.

[14] In October 2014, Healthgrades launched the first comprehensive physician rating and comparison database in the United States.

[8] The database's launch coincided with the release of a company-produced report that showed widely varying complication rates for total knee replacement surgeries across 17 Denver-area hospitals.

[8] On August 4, 2021, the Healthgrades.com marketplace was sold to Red Ventures while the technology and data platform division rebranded to Mercury Healthcare.

[18] Some critics argue that claim data is not adequate to make determinations about the quality of care and that conclusions should be drawn from medical records.

[1][18][19] Healthgrades develops objective ratings based on data and information from several publicly available sources.

[23] The hospital quality awards bestowed by Healthgrades are intended to help patients make an informed choice about where to get treated.

Web visitors can input their opinions in a survey based on their experience with an individual healthcare professional and view provider ratings at no charge.

The survey evaluates a doctor's communication skills, the friendliness of the office staff, and whether it's easy to get an urgent appointment.

[27] According to comScore, Healthgrades began receiving approximately 17 million unique visitors monthly in January 2014.

[20] Medical experts have questioned the reliability of the 1-, 3- and 5-star ratings given to healthcare providers, criticizing the lack of transparency and perceived oversights in Healthgrades' methodology.

"[30] The Rocky Mountain News concluded that Healthgrades had inaccurate physician disciplinary records (while competitor ChoicePoint had much greater accuracy) in 2004.

[32] Risk-adjusted mortality was found to be statistically significantly lower in the Healthgrades' "Best Hospitals" for coronary artery bypass and aortic valve repair.

In 2010, AOL criticized the company for its use of "automatic renewal" subscription charges to customers who purchased physician reports.

Use our Patient Engagement Resources to help you encourage patients to complete surveys.” This suggestion to providers from Healthgrades violates both National Association of Social Workers Code of Ethics[39] and American Psychological Code of Ethics:[40] The Code of Ethics of the National Association of Social Workers, Section 4.07, states that it is unethical for social workers to solicit testimonials: "(b) Social workers should not engage in solicitation of testimonial endorsements (including solicitation of consent to use a client's prior statement as a testimonial endorsement) from current clients or other persons who, because of their particular circumstances are vulnerable to undue influence."

"Choosing "The Best": Comment on "Evaluating Popular Media and Internet-Based Hospital Quality Ratings for Cancer Surgery"".