Physician Rating Scales Do Not Accurately Rate Physicians.

Area of Science:

• Healthcare Quality
• Patient Experience
• Medical Informatics

Background:

• Online physician rating scales are increasingly used by patients to evaluate healthcare providers.
• The content and focus of these rating scales can significantly impact the perceived quality of physician care.
• There is a need to understand how effectively current scales measure physician performance versus other aspects of healthcare delivery.

Purpose of the Study:

• To quantify the proportion of questions in online physician rating scales that directly assess physician performance.
• To analyze the common themes and areas covered by patient-reported physician rating scales.
• To identify variations in question design across different online rating platforms.

Main Methods:

• A systematic review of online, patient-reported physician rating scales was conducted.
• Fourteen websites featuring physician rating scales were identified and analyzed.
• Questions were categorized based on whether they rated the physician, the office, or both.

Main Results:

• A significant portion of questions (48%) rated both the physician and the office environment.
• Only 28% of questions directly assessed the physician, while 24% focused solely on the office.
• Common themes included office staff courtesy, wait times, and time spent with the patient, rather than direct physician evaluation.

Conclusions:

• Most online physician rating scales lack direct assessment of physician performance.
• The current design of many scales provides a mixed evaluation of physician and office-based factors.
• Future development of rating scales should prioritize questions that directly measure physician quality and patient-physician interactions.