In 2012, Salt Lake City-based University of Utah Health Sciences became the first system in the country to make physician ratings public. It may come as no surprise that not everyone was on board right away.
"Doctors were justifiably squeamish," wrote Vivian S. Lee, MD, PhD, CEO of University of Utah Healthcare in a column for Harvard Business Review. "Safeguarding one's reputation comes down to avoiding embarrassment on the Internet. Why, some asked, would an organization parade its imperfections online? Won't online reviews distract providers from the important, hard work of saving lives? Won't providers be pressured to raise scores by bending to unreasonable patient demands, and won't that erode quality of care and raise costs?"
However, such online physician reviews have their merits.
Dr. Lee outlines seven major reasons why making reviews public helps a system and its physicians grow and improve.
- Better care. Holding physicians publicly accountable for delivering exceptional care signals the importance of striving for positive patient outcomes.
- Meaningful information. Patients seek out and are comfortable receiving care information in the form of online reviews.
- Building trust. Surveys reflect that almost half of UUHC's patients reference physician reviews and are influenced by them.
- Owning your reputation. By disclosing true accounts of interactions with patients, physicians and hospitals can stay on top of and better manage their reputations.
- Safer care. Quality and safety improves as transparency increases.
- Better margins. Physician payments and new outpatient appointments have increased significantly since UUHC made the decision to put ratings online.
- Driving continuous improvement. A quarter of UUHC's physician rank among the top percentile nationally for patient satisfaction. This metric, among many others, continues to improve over time for the system.
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