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Nwachukwu BU, Adjei J, Trehan SK, et al. Rating a Sports Medicine Surgeon's "Quality" in the Modern Era: an Analysis of Popular Physician Online Rating Websites. HSS J. 2016;12(3):272-277doi: 10.1007/s11420-016-9520-x.
Nwachukwu, B. U., Adjei, J., Trehan, S. K., Chang, B., Amoo-Achampong, K., Nguyen, J. T., Taylor, S. A., McCormick, F., & Ranawat, A. S. (2016). Rating a Sports Medicine Surgeon's "Quality" in the Modern Era: an Analysis of Popular Physician Online Rating Websites. HSS journal : the musculoskeletal journal of Hospital for Special Surgery, 12(3), 272-277. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11420-016-9520-x
Nwachukwu, Benedict U, et al. "Rating a Sports Medicine Surgeon's "Quality" in the Modern Era: an Analysis of Popular Physician Online Rating Websites." HSS journal : the musculoskeletal journal of Hospital for Special Surgery vol. 12,3 (2016): 272-277. doi: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11420-016-9520-x
Nwachukwu BU, Adjei J, Trehan SK, Chang B, Amoo-Achampong K, Nguyen JT, Taylor SA, McCormick F, Ranawat AS. Rating a Sports Medicine Surgeon's "Quality" in the Modern Era: an Analysis of Popular Physician Online Rating Websites. HSS J. 2016 Oct;12(3):272-277. doi: 10.1007/s11420-016-9520-x. Epub 2016 Aug 17. PMID: 27703422; PMCID: PMC5026665.
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HSS J. 2016 Oct;12(3):272-277. doi: 10.1007/s11420-016-9520-x. Epub 2016 Aug 17.

Rating a Sports Medicine Surgeon's "Quality" in the Modern Era: an Analysis of Popular Physician Online Rating Websites.

HSS journal : the musculoskeletal journal of Hospital for Special Surgery

Benedict U Nwachukwu, Joshua Adjei, Samir K Trehan, Brenda Chang, Kelms Amoo-Achampong, Joseph T Nguyen, Samuel A Taylor, Frank McCormick, Anil S Ranawat

Affiliations

  1. Hospital for Special Surgery, 535 East 70th Street, New York, NY 10021 USA.
  2. Sports Medicine Department, SOAR Institute, Miami, FL 32901 USA.

PMID: 27703422 PMCID: PMC5026665 DOI: 10.1007/s11420-016-9520-x

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Consumer-driven healthcare and an increasing emphasis on quality metrics have encouraged patient engagement in the rating of healthcare. As such, online physician rating websites have become mainstream and may play a potential role in future healthcare policy.

QUESTIONS/PURPOSES: The purpose of this study was to evaluate online patient ratings for US sports medicine surgeons, determine predictors of positive ratings and analyze for inter-website scoring correlation.

METHODS: The American Orthopedic Society for Sports Medicine (AOSSM) member directory was sampled. Surgeon demographic and rating data were searched on three online physicians rating websites: HealthGrades.com (HG), RateMDs.com (RM) and Vitals.com (V). Written rating comments were categorized as relating to the following: surgeon competence, surgeon affability and process of care. Bivariate linear regression, Pearson correlation and multivariable analyses were used to determine factors associated with positive ratings.

RESULTS: Two hundred seventy-five sports medicine surgeons were included. Two hundred seventy-one (99%) had ratings on at least one of the three websites. Sports surgeons were rated highly across all three websites (mean >4.0/5); however, there was only a low to moderate degree of correlation among websites. On HG, female surgeons and surgeons in academia were more likely to receive higher overall ratings. Across all three websites, increased number of years in practice inversely correlated with ratings; this relationship neared significance for HG and was significant for RM. A surgeon's online presence or geographic location was not associated with higher ratings. In multivariable regression analysis for ratings on HG, female sex was the only significant predictor of higher ratings. Two thousand three hundred forty-one written comments were analyzed: perceived surgeon competence and communication influenced the direction of ratings for the top and bottom tier surgeons.

CONCLUSION: There was a low degree of correlation among online websites for surgeon ratings. Female surgeons and those with fewer years in practice appear to have higher ratings on these websites; comment content analysis suggests that high and low ratings are influenced by perceived surgeon competence and affability.

Keywords: healthcare policy; online surgeon ratings; quality; sports medicine

Conflict of interest statement

Compliance with Ethical StandardsConflict of InterestBenedict U. Nwachukwu, MD, MBA, Joshua Adjei, BA, Samir K. Trehan, MD, Brenda Chang, MS, MPH, Kelms Amoo-Achampong BA, Joseph T. Nguyen, MPH, Samue

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