By using this site, you agree to the Privacy Policy and Terms of Use.
Accept
Health Works CollectiveHealth Works CollectiveHealth Works Collective
  • Health
    • Mental Health
  • Policy and Law
    • Global Healthcare
    • Medical Ethics
  • Medical Innovations
  • News
  • Wellness
  • Tech
Search
© 2023 HealthWorks Collective. All Rights Reserved.
Reading: A Message for Docs: Embrace (Don’t Fear) Online Patient Reviews
Share
Notification Show More
Font ResizerAa
Health Works CollectiveHealth Works Collective
Font ResizerAa
Search
Follow US
  • About
  • Contact
  • Privacy
© 2023 HealthWorks Collective. All Rights Reserved.
Health Works Collective > Business > A Message for Docs: Embrace (Don’t Fear) Online Patient Reviews
Business

A Message for Docs: Embrace (Don’t Fear) Online Patient Reviews

Deanna Pogorelc
Deanna Pogorelc
Share
4 Min Read
SHARE

doctor review

doctor review

Sites where patients review and rate their physicians have in the past seemed to get a bad rap. But as patients look more at their healthcare choices the way they do at other purchases, the value of these sites, to some, is becoming increasingly clear.

Roys Laux, the general manager of the health and wellness division of service rating site Angie’s List, said the company entered the consumer review business 17 years ago, focusing on connecting consumers with quality home improvement service providers. About five years ago, its reviewers led the company into the health space. Now the site has listing for everything from physicians to dentists to plastic surgeons to healthcare insurers.

More Read

concierge medicine and obamacare physician shortages
Concierge Medicine Will Get Massive Boost from Obamacare
Price Transparency in Healthcare Still Lacking
Avoiding Meaningful Use Penalties
Orthopaedic Medicine Vital to Addressing Musculoskeletal Disorders [INFOGRAPHIC]
Disruptive Physician Toolkit

Over the past five years, the majority of the reviews and ratings in health have been for elective health providers, like dentists, OBGYNs and dermatologists. According to Laux, they’ve also been mostly positive. That’s something DocSpot also found in a recent analysis of a quarter million reviews on its site.

When they are negative, it’s most often because reviewers are worked up about flaws in communication and punctuality at the doctor’s office, she said. “People generally like their doctors; it’s the wrap arounds happening outside the exam room where the patients are most likely to be unhappy.”

And that’s precisely why review sites can be so valuable to physicians. This may be the only way that kind of patient dissatisfaction ever reaches a busy doctor who is focused on patient care, Laux noted. “Often times the provider doesn’t know it’s taking a long time for nurses to call patient back, or that their practice is running behind every single day, or biling has gotten screwed up last three times.”

And it seems that physicians are becoming increasingly open to engaging with review data, although Laux said it’s been a slow process. Angie’s List, for one, provides physicians who are rated on the site with free access to a portal where they can go to take control of and update their profiles.

“In the very beginning, the resistance was with association groups (as opposed to individual physicians) who were afraid that physicians would be negatively reviewed by people who were, for example, trying to get prescription pills that they didn’t have a medical need for,” said Cheryl Reed, the director of communications at Angie’s List. But that didn’t happen, which Reed credits partly to the fact that Angie’s List doesn’t allow anonymous reviews.

Laux also noted that ratings are improving in some customer service areas, like patient wait times. “Another trend that we would expect to see changing is that, when we polled members as to what’s most important when they’re choosing a healthcare provider, cost is still coming in as less important than effectiveness of treatment, experience and education of physician, bedside manner and communication,” she said.

Laux will be sharing more of these insights as part of a focus group at MedCity’s ENGAGE next Thursday.

 

TAGGED:physician rating sites
Share This Article
Facebook Copy Link Print
Share

Stay Connected

1.5kFollowersLike
4.5kFollowersFollow
2.8kFollowersPin
136kSubscribersSubscribe

Latest News

dental care
Importance of Good Dental Care for Health and Confidence
Dental health Specialties
October 2, 2025
AI in Healthcare
AI in Healthcare: Technology is Transforming the Global Landscape
Global Healthcare Policy & Law Technology
October 1, 2025
Choosing the Right Swimwear for Health and Safety
News
September 30, 2025
sports concussions
Concussion In Sports: How Common They Are And What You Need To Know
Infographics
September 28, 2025

You Might also Like

Coleman’s Laws of Medicine

January 6, 2012

Three Central Questions About Medical Technologies

March 9, 2012
Pass-Fail
BusinessHospital Administration

Whatcha Gonna Do When Hospital Advertising Goes Sour?

April 9, 2014

Government Pays Bonuses for Increasing Medicaid Expenditures

March 17, 2011
Subscribe
Subscribe to our newsletter to get our newest articles instantly!
Follow US
© 2008-2025 HealthWorks Collective. All Rights Reserved.
  • About
  • Contact
  • Privacy
Welcome Back!

Sign in to your account

Username or Email Address
Password

Lost your password?