Physician and Patient Views on Public Physician Rating Websites: A Cross-Sectional Study.
BACKGROUND
Numerical ratings and narrative comments about physicians are increasingly available online. These physician rating websites include independent websites reporting crowd-sourced data from online users and health systems reporting data from their internal patient experience surveys.


OBJECTIVE
To assess patient and physician views on physician rating websites.


METHODS
Cross-sectional physician (electronic) and patient (paper) surveys conducted in August 2015.


METHODS
Eight hundred twenty-eight physicians (response rate 43%) affiliated with one of four hospitals in a large accountable care organization in eastern Massachusetts; 494 adult patients (response rate 34%) who received care in this system in May 2015.


METHODS
Use and perceptions of physician rating websites.


RESULTS
Fifty-three percent of physicians and 39% of patients reported visiting a physician rating website at least once. Physicians reported higher levels of agreement with the accuracy of numerical data (53%) and narrative comments (62%) from health system patient experience surveys compared to numerical data (36%) and narrative comments (36%) on independent websites. Patients reported higher levels of agreement with trusting the accuracy of data obtained from independent websites (57%) compared to health system patient experience surveys (45%). Twenty-one percent of physicians and 51% of patients supported posting narrative comments online for all consumers. The majority (78%) of physicians believed that posting narrative comments online would increase physician job stress; smaller proportions perceived a negative effect on the physician-patient relationship (46%), health care overuse (34%), and patient-reported experiences of care (33%). Over one-fourth of patients (29%) believed that posting narrative comments would cause them to be less open.


CONCLUSIONS
Physicians and patients have different views on whether independent or health system physician rating websites are the more reliable source of information. Their views on whether such data should be shared on public websites are also discordant.
Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA. alison_holliday@hms.harvard.edu.
Alison M
AM
Holliday
Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA.|Division of General Medicine and Primary Care, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, MA, USA.
Allen
A
Kachalia
Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA.|Partners HealthCare System, Prudential Center, 800 Boylston Street, 11th Floor, Boston, MA, USA.|Department of Medicine, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA, USA.
Gregg S
GS
Meyer
Division of General Medicine and Primary Care, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, MA, USA.|Partners HealthCare System, Prudential Center, 800 Boylston Street, 11th Floor, Boston, MA, USA.|Department of Health Care Policy, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA.
Thomas D
TD
Sequist
D000368:Aged; D000074522:Consumer Health Informatics; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D057226:Information Seeking Behavior; D020407:Internet; D008297:Male; D008404:Massachusetts; D008875:Middle Aged; D017060:Patient Satisfaction; D010465:Perception; D010817:Physician-Patient Relations; D019984:Quality Indicators, Health Care / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*
consumer health; doctor–patient relationships; patient engagement; patient satisfaction; quality improvement