While CMS and hospitals typically look at HCAHPS scores to determine their patient satisfaction levels, reviews on public websites like Yelp could provide more telling and actionable information, according to an UpShot article in the New York Times.
In 2012, researchers published an article in the Journal of General Internal Medicine that examined hospitals' and health systems' online reviews on Yelp and compared that data with the data gathered from HCAHPS surveys. The authors found that patients tended to report on aspects of care that extended beyond the traditional patient-physician encounter in their online reviews, according to the article. Patients were also concerned with staff, physicians' bedside manner, access to the hospital and overall convenience in terms of services offered and the navigability of the hospital, which aren't always reflected in HCHAPS questions.
A second and third study looked into the issue further. Naomi Bardach, MD, and her colleagues at UCSF Benioff Children's Hospital San Francisco found 25 percent of the 3,800 hospitals that administered HCAHPS surveys had reviews on Yelp. They also found the correlation between the Yelp reviews and HCAHPS surveys was "quite strong," according to the article.
The authors of a study published in Health Affairs found Yelp reviews covered an additional 12 criteria not a part of the survey, including the cost of a visit, insurance and billing, scheduling, staff compensation, family member care and the quality of staff members, according to the article.
"It's still unclear how people are getting the information to choose the hospitals, but the power of stories is likely an important part of why Yelp and other online reviews are compelling," said Dr. Bardach. "Stories add nuance and context to the otherwise somewhat sterile numbers that the HCAHPS produces."