Patients’ Evaluations of Health Care Providers in the Era of Social Networking: An Analysis of Physician-Rating Websites

Lagu, Tara; Hannon, Nicholas S.; Rothberg, Michael B.; Lindenauer, Peter K.

doi:10.1007/s11606-010-1383-0

Cited by 274 publications

(320 citation statements)

References 9 publications

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“…33 Although physicians may believe that negative ratings outnumber positive ones on physician-rating Web sites, 34 numerous studies have found that not to be the case. 20,[35][36][37][38][39][40][41][42][43][44] This finding is consistent with what is known about consumer-sourced rating systems in general. In our study, parents reported posting positive ratings for physicians more often than negative ratings, by a factor of 3 to 1.…”

Section: -33supporting

confidence: 83%

“…58 Similarly, another study reported that among 33 different rating sites, .70% of physicians did not have a single review on any of the sites. 20 However, the number of physicians with ratings, as well as the number of ratings per physician, is increasing. 38 In addition, it is not clear that this bias and lack of representativeness matters much to parents who may already be familiar with similar issues in ratings of consumer goods such as books and movies.…”

Section: -33mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Although rating sites for general consumer goods have been well accepted by the public, the popularity of physician-rating sites is less clear, 19 and it is common to find that restaurant ratings far outnumber physician ratings. 20 To examine these issues in greater detail, we surveyed a nationally representative sample of parents about their views on physician-rating sites and how they have used them in selecting a primary care physician for their children.…”

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confidence: 99%

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Parental Awareness and Use of Online Physician Rating Sites

Hanauer

Zheng

Singer³

et al. 2014

Pediatrics

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WHAT'S KNOWN ON THIS SUBJECT: Public awareness and usage of physician-rating Web sites have been increasing over the last few years. Such ratings can influence adults' decisions about choosing a physician, but their influence on decisions for children' s physicians has not been characterized. WHAT THIS STUDY ADDS:In this nationally representative survey of parents, we found that the majority (74%) are aware of rating Web sites and slightly more than one-quarter (28%) had sought information on rating Web sites when choosing a primary care physician for their children. abstract BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: The US public is increasingly using online rating sites to make decisions about a variety of consumer goods and services, including physicians. We sought to understand, within the context of other types of rating sites, parents' awareness, perceptions, and use of physician-rating sites for choosing primary care physicians for their children. METHODS:This cross-sectional, nationally representative survey of 3563 adults was conducted in September 2012. Participants were asked about rating Web sites in the context of finding a primary care physician for their children and about their previous experiences with such sites. RESULTS:Overall, 2137 (60%) of participants completed the survey. Among these respondents, 1619 were parents who were included in the present analysis. About three-quarters (74%) of parents were aware of physician-rating sites, and about one-quarter (28%) had used them to select a primary care physician for their children. Based on 3 vignettes for which respondents were asked if they would follow a neighbor' s recommendation about a primary care physician and using multivariate analyses, respondents exposed to a neighbor' s recommendation and positive online physician ratings were significantly more likely to choose the recommended physician (adjusted odds ratio: 3.0 [95% confidence interval: 2.1-4.4]) than respondents exposed to the neighbor's recommendation alone. Conversely, respondents exposed to the neighbor's recommendation and negative online ratings were significantly less likely to choose the neighbor children's physician (adjusted odds ratio: 0.09 [95% confidence interval: 0.03-0.3]). CONCLUSIONS:Parents are beginning to use online physician ratings, and these ratings have the potential to influence choices of their children' s primary care physician. Pediatrics 2014;134:e966-e975 AUTHORS:

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Section: -33supporting

confidence: 83%

Section: -33mentioning

confidence: 99%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

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Parental Awareness and Use of Online Physician Rating Sites

Hanauer

Zheng

Singer³

et al. 2014

Pediatrics

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“…2 Few studies have provided quantitative analysis of social media utilization by healthcare organizations or the relationship between end-user metrics and hospital quality and/or outcomes. 11,21,22 However, emerging studies suggest that feedback and ratings on social media and other online rating tools may be correlated with patient satisfaction and objective measures of hospital quality and safety 23 .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Hospital Evaluations by Social Media: A Comparative Analysis of Facebook Ratings among Performance Outliers

et al. 2015

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BACKGROUND: An increasing number of hospitals and health systems utilize social media to allow users to provide feedback and ratings. The correlation between ratings on social media and more conventional hospital quality metrics remains largely unclear, raising concern that healthcare consumers may make decisions on inaccurate or inappropriate information regarding quality. OBJECTIVES: The purpose of this study was to examine the extent to which hospitals utilize social media and whether user-generated metrics on Facebook ® correlate with a Hospital Compare ® metric, specifically 30-day all cause unplanned hospital readmission rates. DESIGN AND PARTICIPANTS: This was a retrospective cross-sectional study conducted among all U.S. hospitals performing outside the confidence interval for the national average on 30-day hospital readmission rates as reported on Hospital Compare. Participants were 315 hospitals performing better than U.S. national rate on 30-day readmissions and 364 hospitals performing worse than the U.S. national rate. MAIN MEASURES:The study analyzed ratings of hospitals on Facebook's five-star rating scale, 30-day readmission rates, and hospital characteristics including beds, teaching status, urban vs. rural location, and ownership type. KEY RESULTS: Hospitals performing better than the national average on 30-day readmissions were more likely to use Facebook than lower-performing hospitals (93.3 % vs. 83.5 %; p < 0.01). The average rating for hospitals with low readmission rates (4.15±0.31) was higher than that for hospitals with higher readmission rates (4.05±0.41, p < 0.01). Major teaching hospitals were 14.3 times more likely to be in the high readmission rate group. A onestar increase in Facebook rating was associated with increased odds of the hospital belonging to the low readmission rate group by a factor of 5.0 (CI: 2.6-10.3, p < 0.01), when controlling for hospital characteristics and Facebook-related variables. CONCLUSIONS: Hospitals with lower rates of 30-day hospital-wide unplanned readmissions have higher ratings on Facebook than hospitals with higher readmission rates. These findings add strength to the concept that aggregate measures of patient satisfaction on social media correlate with more traditionally accepted measures of hospital quality.

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“…9,10 In addition, social media enables physicians to attract new potential patients, introduce themselves and display their professional accomplishments. 11 In this study, it was found that orthopaedists used social media tools frequently, being Facebook the most popular one with a rate of 73%.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%