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The results are in: Online physician reviews are good medicine

Since Dec. 1, 2012, online physician reviews from tens of thousands of patients have been posted on University of Utah Health Care’s website. With a five star ranking, the University was the first system in the nation to post its own reviews. Since posting, patient satisfaction is up—half our providers now rank in the top 10 percent when compared to their peers nationally, and 26 percent rank in the top 1 percent. And neither cost nor quality has suffered. For six years running University of Utah Health Care has placed in the top 10 for quality and safety. 

Doctor Reviews in the News

Online reviews could help fix medicine 

A basic principle of health care is that everyone strongly favors transparency – for everyone but themselves. “Sunshine is the strongest disinfectant” is the oft-used expression that supports putting information out in the open for all to see. 

 

2-economist

 DocAdvisor: Patients around the world are starting to give doctors a piece of their mind 

When a patient in Illinois did not like the result of her breast-augmentation surgery, she reacted like many dissatisfied customers: by writing negative comments about her doctor on websites that feature such reviews.

 
3-academic-medicine

 Why online doctor ratings are good medicine 

A growing number of health consumers are consulting online physician-rating sites when choosing doctors even if the value of those sites—whether they’re reliable sources for information, or capable of driving improvements in health care—is in dispute.  But a new study in the December issue of Academic Medicine bolsters research linking good patient satisfaction scores with good patient outcomes.

 
kaiser-health-news

Hospitals get into doctor rating business

After some doctors at University of Utah Health Care noticed scathing online reviews about themselves in 2012, the hospital system decided the best way to respond was by posting its patients’ ratings of physicians on the hospital’s own website.

Modern Healthcare

 Posting doc-patient reviews pays off

When Salt Lake City residents search the Web for physician reviews, they're likely to come across a set of ratings from an unlikely source: the University of Utah Health Care's website.

KSL

 Doctor ratings empower and educate University of Utah patients  

When we want to find a good restaurant, hotel, hair stylist or movie, it's easy to check any number of online reviews. But what about selecting a doctor

 
Algorithms

 Transparency: Will it help or harm health care

“Google me,” said Courtney Scaife, M.D., as she walked into the office of Chief Medical Officer Thomas Miller, M.D. He did and up popped an ugly comment. How long had it been floating around on the Internet? Was it even a former patient? A disgruntled co-worker? “Now look at these comments,” she said, placing a stack of Press Ganey patient survey results on his desk.

 
Algorithms

 Why online doctor reviews are good medicine 

Patient-centered care isn’t about looking good on consumer scorecards. It’s a mindset, an organizing principle and a means to a greater end: high-value health care, says Tom Lee, Chief Medical Officer for Press Ganey, the nation’s leading provider of patient satisfaction surveys.

 
Deseret News

 Can you trust online reviews of your doctor?

As more consumers turn to the Web to make decisions about which restaurant to try or which hotel to book, websites that rate doctors are also growing. At the University of Utah, each physician now has a profile where people can see dozens of comments from anonymous patients and an overall star rating.

 
Health Sciences University of Utah

 Online physician reviews continue to lead transparency efforts in academic medicine

As other health care systems prepare to follow in the footsteps of University of Utah Health Care —the first hospital system in the country to post online physician reviews and comments—new data is available about the innovative venture it launched in December 2012.

 
Health Sciences University of Utah

University of Utah Health Care first hospital system in country to post online physician reviews and comments  

Health care consumers considering a physician at University of Utah Health Care now have an additional tool— online access to the system’s patient satisfaction scores and comments. The rankings are based on more than 40,000 patient surveys and evaluate physicians on nine questions.