Before trying a new restaurant, checking into an unfamiliar hotel, or finding a new auto mechanic, online ratings and reviews can give you a sense for how others enjoyed their services and experiences.
That same sort of insight is coming to medicine. Rate-a-doctor websites are proliferating. And just like everything else on the ‘Net, it’s important to exercise skepticism until you know a source is trustworthy.
The accuracy of online physician ratings varies. Some websites, for example, share physician ratings based on as few as one review. Some allow reviews to be posted by anyone – whether a patient or not.
At Cleveland Clinic, we are joining other leading hospitals that have found a better way. We now share our patient ratings and feedback online through our Find a Doctor tool on clevelandclinic.org.
According to the Journal of the American Medical Association, 56 percent of patients consider online ratings important when evaluating a new physician. In fact, a 2014 BrightLocal Consumer Review Survey showed that many people (88 percent of those polled) trust online reviews as much as they trust personal recommendations.
To maintain that trust, our physician scores will be an average of all responses to physician-specific questions from our outpatient and inpatient surveys conducted by the Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems, which is overseen by the U.S. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. In other words, these ratings are based on the views of a doctor’s actual patients.
The ratings will be shown with a numerical score and represented by stars, and will include the number of surveys the rating is based upon. To ensure that the ratings are statistically reliable and truly reflect patient satisfaction, ratings will only be displayed for those providers with a minimum of 30 returned surveys. Ratings will represent a rolling 12-month average and will be updated weekly.
This is part of our ongoing focus to improve patient experience. Such transparency allows patients to have an accurate view of our physicians’ reputations, while also providing patients with a strong voice in their own care.
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