Online Physician Reviews Do Not Reflect Patient Satisfaction Survey Responses

Area of Science:

• Medical Informatics
• Patient Experience Research
• Healthcare Management

Background:

• Online physician reviews are increasingly used by patients to select healthcare providers.
• Limited data exists comparing physicians with negative online reviews to those without.
• Patient satisfaction surveys (PSSs) offer a formal measure of patient feedback.

Purpose of the Study:

• To compare industry-vetted patient satisfaction surveys (PSSs) between physicians with and without negative online reviews.
• To investigate the correlation between online physician reputation and formal patient feedback mechanisms.
• To identify factors contributing to discrepancies in physician evaluation.

Main Methods:

• A comparative study matching 113 physicians with negative online reviews to 113 physicians without negative reviews.
• Utilized Press Ganey (PG) PSS scores to assess patient satisfaction.
• Analyzed mean scores for overall satisfaction, physician-patient communication, and non-physician-specific variables.

Main Results:

• No significant difference in overall mean PG PSS scores between physicians with and without negative online reviews (P=.92).
• No significant difference in scores for physician-patient communication skills (P=.42).
• Physicians with negative online reviews had significantly lower scores on non-physician-specific variables (P=.02).

Conclusions:

• Online physician reviews do not correlate with formal institutional PG PSS scores.
• Lower non-physician-specific scores in physicians with negative online reviews suggest broader issues affecting patient experience.
• An improved online rating system is needed to provide more accurate physician reputation information to patients.