In 2013 Vitals.com reported over 150 million searches for medical care providers. With the implementation of the Affordable Healthcare Act and the redefiniton of private-pay and elective services, the number of searches connected to online review sites has multiplied exponentially.... View Article Read more...
As if Twitter, Facebook and other social-media sites don't offer enough advice for today's consumers, physician ratings and reviews sites are there to give patients important information about their healthcare options. More than 30 sites exist in this particular niche, including RateMDs.com and Healthgrades.com. General sites like Angie's List and Yelp also contain physician listings.
These sites have been a little slow to catch on, but doubts that these reviews and ratings services will turn into complaint forums hasn't necessarily proven true. Although the American Medical Association had previously expressed concerns about patient confidentiality, their doubts have been assuaged by the positive nature of most physician online reviews. Read more...
Online ratings and reviews sites can be just the solution for finding a terrific local restaurant ? or avoiding a terrible one. However, when it comes to finding the best medical care, it's still difficult to find enough reviews to make a reliable decision.
In a 2012 study published in The Journal of Urology, 500 urologists were surveyed. They averaged 2.4 reviews on 10 major online reviews and ratings sites such as RateMDs.com, Healthgrades.com and Vitals.com, with total reviews per physicians ranging from a high of 64 to a low of zero. The reviews were generally positive (86 percent), but the negative reviews focused on aspects like office decor as opposed to the actual patient treatment. In some cases, a physician can have a perfect rating of 5 stars on one site and a poor rating of 2 stars on another. Read more...
For Physicians Facing Negative Online Reviews, the Law is Not on Your Side
Physicians are increasingly concerned with reviews and ratings sites and the potential for negative feedback that might tarnish their online reputation management efforts. For many professionals in the medical field, it would seem obvious to get the law involved and sue the site.
Legal Precedent for Physician-Review Sites
Unfortunately, Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act in 1996 says that "No provider or user of an interactive computer service shall be treated as the publisher or speaker of any information provided by another information content provider. Read more...
A Troubling Prognosis for Medical Practices That Avoid Online Review Sites
You can't prevent patients from offering opinions about your medical practice online. If you look past the feedback on review sites, you leave yourself open to reputation damage.
Both the National Committee on Quality Assurance and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services require organizations to publicly report their patient satisfaction data. With this information, patients should be equipped to make informed choices about their medical care. However, online review and rating sites like Yelp, CitySearch and Insider Pages, along with niche-specific sites like Vitals.com, Doctors.com and RateMDs.com, are more prominent than these longtime sources. Read more...
*Logo appearing in text request is dependent on recipient's device.
