| Are Physician Ratings on the Web Useful? Here is a typical scenario. You’re need a good doctor and decide to surf online doctor reviews. Millions do it every year. By some estimate, over 60% of people looking for a new doctor start their search on-line. What most don’t appreciate is that while product reviews often help in making a wise decision, the same is rarely the case with online reviews of doctors. The first problem is that few doctors have enough online reviews to make them meaningful. Often there will be no more than one or two reviews. If more than a couple of reviews exist, most will be quite old. Sometimes there will be a single review by someone that apparently loved the service. Equally likely, there will be a review by a disgruntled drug seeker angry about not getting a prescription they can resell for a profit. Disgruntled drug seekers don’t like paying for an office appointment to only walk out empty handed. When the doctor then gets slammed in an online review it’s to no one’s surprise. Sometime a bad review is the cost of being an ethical doctor. For many products and services, online reviews and ratings help assess quality. So, why isn’t it the same for hospitals and doctors? The problem is that there is much more to quality medical service than patient satisfaction. To put the problem in perspective, here are a few thoughts to consider: 1. Most patients like their doctor and write overly glowing reviews. On the other hand, unusually negative reviews may be based on factors beyond the doctor’s control. 2. Online ratings rarely provide statistics that can put the review in proper perspective. For example, how many patients has the doctor treated with a given condition? How many fared better or worse? Does the doctor over test or under test? Is it a doctor that only fills expectations like prescribing an antibiotic even if they know it’s a virus? Unfortunately, a doctor can get better ratings by not opposing patient expectation than by practicing good medicine. 3. In a 2012 JAMA study involving 52,000 patients, the most satisfied patients fared worse. Interestingly, even though satisfied patients used fewer emergency services, they spent more on prescription drugs and, testing and were more likely to die. 4. Many reviews focus on details like wait times and punctuality. Unfortunately a large body of research shows little correlation between these and quality. Often these are staff related issues the doctor has little control over. Perhaps the doctor was assigned a grumpy nurse or receptionist that day. A feeling of insensitivity from someone on the staff can easily become a story about an insensitive doctor. 5. While there are many websites posting reviews about doctors, most only publish simple facts from public databases about where the doctor went to school or completed residency. Other information is frequently hijacked from their competitor’s review sites. Hence, reviews or ratings may be little more than a very small (statistically insignificant) sample of information endlessly scrapped from websites and republished in different forms. For example, one site may publish the reviewer’s full text. Another site may extract from the review in a simple thumbs up/down type evaluation. Often comparing ratings on different sites provides no new information. It’s all the same information republished in disguised forms. On a positive note, a complementary online review likely means the doctor has good bedside manners. In general, that’s a plus since having a favorable patient-doctor relationship is key to open communications and trust that gets all the facts on the table. Even the smartest doctor will likely do a poor job without all the facts. One factor that does significantly differentiate doctors is the number of patients they see a day. For example, a primary care physician seeing thirty or more patients a day has little time to listen, make thoughtful medical decisions, or explain what’s needed. In contrast, a primary care doctor that sees 18 or fewer patients a day is more likely to provide a valuable service. Tell Me More about Concierge Physicians in Huntsville, Alabama. Exit |