5 Things To Know About Online Physician Rating Sites — Do The Stars Matter? Featured

A new study published in JAMA examines physician rating websites.

With 60 percent of patients placing emphasis on physician rating websites when choosing a physician, the information on these sites is becoming increasingly important. The study authors searched for websites allowing patients to review physicians in December 2016 and examined a random sample of 600 physicians from Boston, Portland, Ore., and Dallas.

The researchers examined 28 physician rating sites that included 8,133 quantitative reviews and 1,784 narrative comments for the 600 physicians. There were an average of seven reviews for physicians that had at least one review on the site; however, 34 percent of the physicians didn't have a review on any site.

The researchers found:

1. Almost all — 93 percent — of the sites included an overall "star" rating for the physicians and all include the ability to leave narrative comments.

2. Two of the sites didn't post the narrative comments they collected.

3. Eighteen percent of the sites allowed users to search by clinical condition while 54 percent allowed searches by hospital affiliation. All allowed consumers to search by the physician's name and 96 percent allowed searches by specialties. Thirty-two percent allowed consumers to search by insurance accepted.

4. Twenty-one percent of the sites required administrators to review the comments before they were posted and 36 percent allowed side-by-side comparisons.

5. Ninety-six percent of the sites included the physician's name, work address and work phone number. Thirty-nine percent included the physician's education and thirty-two percent included the years of experience.

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