How to Correct Errors on Your Public Directory Profile

By MedXL Editorial Team · Updated 2026-08-26 · 6 min read

Sooner or later almost every physician finds an error on a public directory profile: a wrong specialty, a clinic you left years ago, a misspelled name, or a phone number that rings a fax machine. Errors matter because patients act on them and employers notice them. The good news is that most corrections follow a predictable process once you understand where directory data comes from and who actually controls each field.

Directory platforms rarely type in your data by hand. Profiles are assembled from upstream sources, and the correction that sticks is the one made at the source. Common origins include:

Regulator registers. State medical boards in the US and provincial or territorial colleges in Canada publish name, license status, specialty, and sometimes practice address.

In this guide

First, diagnose where the bad data comes from
The correction sequence that works
What evidence to attach to a correction request
Errors that deserve priority handling
When a platform will not fix it
Preventing the next error
Frequently asked questions
Key takeaways