TY - JOUR
T1 - Online Patient Ratings Are Not Correlated with Total Knee Replacement Surgeon–Specific Outcomes
AU - Trehan, Samir K.
AU - Nguyen, Joseph T.
AU - Marx, Robert
AU - Cross, Michael B.
AU - Pan, Ting J.
AU - Daluiski, Aaron
AU - Lyman, Stephen
N1 - Funding Information:
Conflict of Interest: Samir K. Trehan, MD, Ting J. Pan, MPH, and Aaron Daluiski, MD, declare that they have no conflicts of interest. Robert Marx, MD, reports the following relationships outside this work: research support from DePuy Synthes; book royalties from Springer and Demos Health; and editorial board memberships with Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery, Evidence-Based Orthopedics, and HSS Journal; he also is chairperson of the newsletter committee of the International Society of Arthroscopy, Knee Surgery and Orthopaedic Sports Medicine. Michael B. Cross, MD, reports the following relationships outside this work: Acelity (paid consultant, surgical advisory board), Exactech (paid consultant), Intellijoint Surgical (paid consultant, stock options), Link Orthopaedics (paid consultant), Smith and Nephew (paid consultant, research support), Theravance Biopharma (paid consultant), Zimmer Biomet (paid consultant); he also reports editorial board membership with Bone and Joint 360, Journal of Orthopaedics and Traumatology, and Techniques in Orthopaedics. Joseph T. Nguyen, MPH, and Stephen Lyman, PhD, report receiving funds from the Clinical Translational Science Center (CTSC), National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS), grant no. UL1-RR024996. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the NCATS, based in Rockville, MD.
Funding Information:
Level of Evidence: Level III: Retrospective, Cohort Study Samir K. Trehan, MD, Ting J. Pan, MPH, and Aaron Daluiski, MD, declare that they have no conflicts of interest. Robert Marx, MD, reports the following relationships outside this work: research support from DePuy Synthes; book royalties from Springer and Demos Health; and editorial board memberships with Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery, Evidence-Based Orthopedics, and HSS Journal; he also is chairperson of the newsletter committee of the International Society of Arthroscopy, Knee Surgery and Orthopaedic Sports Medicine. Michael B. Cross, MD, reports the following relationships outside this work: Acelity (paid consultant, surgical advisory board), Exactech (paid consultant), Intellijoint Surgical (paid consultant, stock options), Link Orthopaedics (paid consultant), Smith and Nephew (paid consultant, research support), Theravance Biopharma (paid consultant), Zimmer Biomet (paid consultant); he also reports editorial board membership with Bone and Joint 360, Journal of Orthopaedics and Traumatology, and Techniques in Orthopaedics. Joseph T. Nguyen, MPH, and Stephen Lyman, PhD, report receiving funds from the Clinical Translational Science Center (CTSC), National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS), grant no. UL1-RR024996. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the NCATS, based in Rockville, MD.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2018, Hospital for Special Surgery.
PY - 2018/7/1
Y1 - 2018/7/1
N2 - Background: Despite potential concerns regarding their validity, physician-rating websites continue to grow in number and utilization and feature prominently on major search engines, potentially affecting patient decision-making regarding physician selection. Questions/Purposes: We sought to determine whether patient ratings on public physician-rating websites correlate with surgeon-specific outcomes for high-volume total knee replacement (TKR) surgeons in New York State (NYS) from 2010 to 2012. Methods: Online patient ratings were compared to surgeon-specific outcomes from the Statewide Planning and Research Cooperative System (SPARCS) database from the NYS Department of Health. For each surgeon, we determined the infection rate, re-admission rate, and revision surgery rate within the study period, as well as the mean inpatient length of stay, for TKR from the SPARCS database. Online ratings were collected from two physician-rating websites (Vitals.com and HealthGrades.com). Results: One hundred seventy-four high-volume TKR surgeons were identified in NYS from 2010 to 2012. The mean rates of in-hospital infection, 90-day infection, 30-day re-admission, 90-day re-admission, and revision surgery were 0.25, 1.00, 4.89, 8.43, and 1.31%, respectively. The mean number of ratings for individual surgeons on HealthGrades.com and Vitals.com were 24.0 (range: 0 to 109) and 19.3 (range: 0 to 114), respectively, and mean overall ratings were 4.2 and 4.1 (out of 5) stars, respectively. As with online patient ratings of individual surgeons, variability was observed in the total adverse event rate distribution for individual surgeons. Despite sufficient variability in both online patient rating and surgeon-specific outcomes for high-volume TKR surgeons in NYS, no correlation was observed. Conclusion: There was no correlation between surgeon-specific TKR outcome measures and online patient ratings. We therefore advise that patients exert caution when interpreting ratings on these websites.
AB - Background: Despite potential concerns regarding their validity, physician-rating websites continue to grow in number and utilization and feature prominently on major search engines, potentially affecting patient decision-making regarding physician selection. Questions/Purposes: We sought to determine whether patient ratings on public physician-rating websites correlate with surgeon-specific outcomes for high-volume total knee replacement (TKR) surgeons in New York State (NYS) from 2010 to 2012. Methods: Online patient ratings were compared to surgeon-specific outcomes from the Statewide Planning and Research Cooperative System (SPARCS) database from the NYS Department of Health. For each surgeon, we determined the infection rate, re-admission rate, and revision surgery rate within the study period, as well as the mean inpatient length of stay, for TKR from the SPARCS database. Online ratings were collected from two physician-rating websites (Vitals.com and HealthGrades.com). Results: One hundred seventy-four high-volume TKR surgeons were identified in NYS from 2010 to 2012. The mean rates of in-hospital infection, 90-day infection, 30-day re-admission, 90-day re-admission, and revision surgery were 0.25, 1.00, 4.89, 8.43, and 1.31%, respectively. The mean number of ratings for individual surgeons on HealthGrades.com and Vitals.com were 24.0 (range: 0 to 109) and 19.3 (range: 0 to 114), respectively, and mean overall ratings were 4.2 and 4.1 (out of 5) stars, respectively. As with online patient ratings of individual surgeons, variability was observed in the total adverse event rate distribution for individual surgeons. Despite sufficient variability in both online patient rating and surgeon-specific outcomes for high-volume TKR surgeons in NYS, no correlation was observed. Conclusion: There was no correlation between surgeon-specific TKR outcome measures and online patient ratings. We therefore advise that patients exert caution when interpreting ratings on these websites.
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U2 - 10.1007/s11420-017-9600-6
DO - 10.1007/s11420-017-9600-6
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85040334267
SN - 1556-3316
VL - 14
SP - 177
EP - 180
JO - HSS Journal
JF - HSS Journal
IS - 2
ER -