A concise, evidence-based medical tool that saves you money
Question:
Do physician online ratings correlate with health outcomes?
Answer:
No
MedHead Confidence Score: 3
Amount Saved: $50 medical research
Med-O-Meter
3
MedHead Message:
Full disclosure: As far as I know, my online rating as a “doctor” ranges around 4 stars out of 5, give or take.
Rating doctors online is absurd. Let me say that again–rating doctors online is absurd. Sure you can rate your steak you had last night or the purse you bought the other day, and even the foot massage you had last week. But doctors? Seriously? Your health is an enormous bucket of unknowns. How well do I communicate with patients? How knowledgeable am I about the disease you have? What kind of personality do I have? How funny am I? How much time do I spend with you? How much do I follow up? How do I perform billing? Do I charge more or less than other doctors? Are the clinical outcomes of my patients better than others? The list goes on and on and on and on….
And it can be all summed up, into one tidy little number online? Oh yeah, don’t forget that angry patients are more likely to leave a negative review than happy patients. What gives? Forget online doctor reviews, especially those in the medical field. Surgeons tend to have a little more direct correlation as their work is based on more concrete evidence like surgical outcomes vs. complications.
