A report published by the Journal of the American Medical Association Tuesday shows that the patient-as-consumer perspective touted by the pharmaceutical industry is playing out in doctors’ offices.
The findings, distilled from 2,137 patients, found that almost 60% of the participants considered doctor rating sites “somewhat important” when they chose a doctor, even though such sites were rated as secondary to first-hand recommendations from family and friends.
The study did not indicate how social the surveyed sites were, but the perceived impact these sites have on non-medical businesses is such that Googling the terms “negative review” or “negative comments” and “lawsuit” brings up a spate of information about lawsuits over comments.
Researchers found that bad medical reviews kept away 37% of the surveyed patients who used physician-scoring services, while good reviews pulled in 35% of respondents who used review sites.
