Understanding Online Reviews of Geriatricians: Correlations within a Dataset of 53,210 Physician Reviews

Introduction: Online reviews are increasingly influential in how patients find and choose physicians. Patients appreciate the transparency of online reviews, and they offer an avenue for physicians to receive feedback. This cross-sectional study aims to provide insight into correlations between provider level information such as wait times or physician demographics, and the reviews patients submit online for geriatricians. Methods: ParseHub software was used to extract and pool data from 6,631 provider profiles categorized under “geriatric medicine” on the popular open-source physician review website Healthgrades.com. Physician race or ethnicity was modeled by profile last name based on 2010 US census data. Non-physician providers were excluded from the main analysis. Standard statistical models including Pearson correlations and t-tests were used to determine relationships between physician information and their average online rating. Results: We found that physicians with longer wait times have significantly lower reviews (P < 0.01). Physicians who accepted more insurances had a higher number of reviews (p < 0.01). Physicians with last names more common among Caucasians had significantly higher ratings (p < 0.01) while those with last names more common among Asians had lower ratings (p < 0.01). No significant differences were found based on gender, languages spoken, awards, or “accepts medicare” posted on profile. Conclusions: Our study supports previous studies that have found correlations between longer wait times and lower physician reviews. Cultural barriers and biases may play into lower online reviews of Asian physicians. Further studies will be helpful in addressing causality and improve the patient and physician experience with online reviews.