Factors Associated with the Patient/Client Use of Report Cards, Physician Rating Websites, Social Media, and Google for Hospital and Physician Selection: A Nationwide Survey
Abstract
:1. Introduction
2. Methods
2.1. Computer-Assisted Telephone Interview (CATI) Methodology and Sample Selection Criteria
2.2. Recruitment
2.3. Questionnaire and Outcomes
2.4. Statistical Analysis
2.5. Controlled Factors
3. Results
3.1. Factors Related to Awareness of Official Report Cards or PRWs
3.2. Factors Related to the Use of Report Cards, PRWs, Social Media or Google
3.3. Factors Related to Action Based on Feedback from Report Cards, PRWs, Social Media Networks, Google, and Reviews from All except Report Cards
4. Discussion and Conclusions
4.1. Discussion
4.2. Explanations of Factors Affecting Awareness of Official Report Cards and PRWs
4.3. Explanation of Factors for Usage and Decision Making Based on the Results of PRWs, Social Media Networks or Google
4.4. Conclusions
4.5. Practical Implications
Supplementary Materials
Author Contributions
Funding
Institutional Review Board Statement
Informed Consent Statement
Data Availability Statement
Acknowledgments
Conflicts of Interest
Abbreviations
PRW | physician rating website |
NHI | national health insurance |
NHIA | National Health Insurance Administration |
CATI | computer-assisted telephone interview |
RDD | random digit dialing |
PPS | probability proportional to size |
GLMM | generalized linear mixed model |
ISIC | International Standard Industrial Classification |
TCS | Taiwan Communication Survey |
NHRI | National Health Research Institute |
AAPOR | American Association for Public Opinion Research |
References
- Hibbard, J.H.; Stockard, J.; Tusler, M. Does publicizing hospital performance stimulate quality improvement efforts? Health Aff. 2003, 22, 84–94. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef] [PubMed] [Green Version]
- Wicks, P.; Massagli, M.; Frost, J.; Brownstein, C.; Okun, S.; Vaughan, T.; Bradley, R.; Heywood, J. Sharing health data for better outcomes on PatientsLikeMe. J. Med. Internet Res. 2010, 12, e1549. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef] [PubMed] [Green Version]
- Reames, B.N.; Ghaferi, A.A.; Birkmeyer, J.D.; Dimick, J.B. Hospital Volume and Operative Mortality in the Modern Era. Ann. Surg. 2014, 260, 244–251. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef] [PubMed] [Green Version]
- Wong-Rieger, D. Not Surprising: Patients Not Engaged and Not Using Public Healthcare Quality Information. Patient 2016, 9, 191–192. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef] [Green Version]
- Kanouse, D.E.; Schlesinger, M.; Shaller, D.; Martino, S.C.; Rybowski, L. How Patient Comments Affect Consumers’ Use of Physician Performance Measures. Med. Care 2016, 54, 24–31. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef] [Green Version]
- Lagu, T.; Greaves, F. From Public to Social Reporting of Hospital Quality. J. Gen. Intern. Med. 2015, 30, 1397–1399. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef] [Green Version]
- Schlesinger, M.; Kanouse, D.E.; Rybowski, L.; Martino, S.C.; Shaller, D. Consumer Response to Patient Experience Measures in Complex Information Environments. Med. Care 2012, 50, S56–S64. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
- Bardach, N.S. Raising up the voices of the closest observers of care. BMJ Qual. Saf. 2018, 27, 96–98. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef] [Green Version]
- Geissler, K.H.; Friedberg, M.W.; SteelFisher, G.K.; Schneider, E.C. Motivators and barriers to using patient experience reports for performance improvement. Med. Care Res. Rev. 2013, 70, 621–635. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef] [Green Version]
- Schlesinger, M.; Grob, R.; Shaller, D.; Martino, S.C.; Parker, A.M.; Finucane, M.L.; Cerully, J.L.; Rybowsk, L. Taking Patients’ Narratives about Clinicians from Anecdote to Science. N. Engl. J. Med. 2015, 373, 675–679. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
- Detz, A.; Lopez, A.; Sarkar, U. Long-term doctor-patient relationships: Patient perspective from online reviews. J. Med. Internet Res. 2013, 15, e131. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
- Ellimoottil, C.; Hart, A.; Greco, K.; Quek, M.L.; Farooq, A. Online reviews of 500 urologists. J. Urol. 2013, 189, 2269–2273. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
- Emmert, M.; Meier, F. An analysis of online evaluations on a physician rating website: Evidence from a German public reporting instrument. J. Med. Internet Res. 2013, 15, e157. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
- Emmert, M.; Meier, F.; Pisch, F.; Sander, U. Physician choice making and characteristics associated with using physician-rating websites: Cross-sectional study. J. Med. Internet Res. 2013, 15, e187. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
- Emmert, M.; Meszmer, N.; Sander, U. Do Health Care Providers Use Online Patient Ratings to Improve the Quality of Care? Results From an Online-Based Cross-Sectional Study. J. Med. Internet Res. 2016, 18, e254. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
- Gao, G.G.; McCullough, J.S.; Agarwal, R.; Jha, A.K. A changing landscape of physician quality reporting: Analysis of patients’ online ratings of their physicians over a 5-year period. J. Med. Internet Res. 2012, 14, e38. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
- Hanauer, D.A.; Zheng, K.; Singer, D.C.; Gebremariam, A.; Davis, M.M. Parental awareness and use of online physician rating sites. Pediatrics 2014, 134, e966–e975. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef] [Green Version]
- Ellis, R.J.; Yuce, T.K.; Hewitt, D.B.; Merkow, R.P.; Kinnier, C.V.; Johnson, J.K.; Bilimoria, K.Y. National Evaluation of Patient Preferences in Selecting Hospitals and Health Care Providers. Med. Care 2020, 58, 867–873. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
- Rothenfluh, F.; Schulz, P.J. Physician Rating Websites: What Aspects Are Important to Identify a Good Doctor, and Are Patients Capable of Assessing Them? A Mixed-Methods Approach Including Physicians’ and Health Care Consumers’ Perspectives. J. Med. Internet Res. 2017, 19, e6875. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
- Faber, M.; Bosch, M.; Wollersheim, H.; Leatherman, S.; Grol, R. Public reporting in health care: How do consumers use quality-of-care information? A systematic review. Med. Care 2009, 47, 1–8. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
- Davis, M.M.; Hanauer, D.A. Online Measures of Physician Performance: Moving Beyond Aggregation to Integration. JAMA 2017, 317, 2325–2326. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
- Patel, S.; Cain, R.; Neailey, K.; Hooberman, L. Public Awareness, Usage, and Predictors for the Use of Doctor Rating Websites: Cross-Sectional Study in England. J. Med. Internet Res. 2018, 20, e243. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
- Galizzi, M.M.; Miraldo, M.; Stavropoulou, C.; Desai, M.; Jayatunga, W.; Joshi, M.; Parikh, S. Who is more likely to use doctor-rating websites, and why? A cross-sectional study in London. BMJ Open 2012, 2, e001493. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef] [Green Version]
- Bidmon, S.; Terlutter, R.; Rottl, J. What explains usage of mobile physician-rating apps? Results from a web-based questionnaire. J. Med. Internet Res. 2014, 16, e148. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef] [Green Version]
- Terlutter, R.; Bidmon, S.; Rottl, J. Who Uses Physician-Rating Websites? Differences in Sociodemographic Variables, Psychographic Variables, and Health Status of Users and Nonusers of Physician-Rating Websites. J. Med. Internet Res. 2014, 16, 227–237. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef] [Green Version]
- Hanauer, D.A.; Zheng, K.; Singer, D.C.; Gebremariam, A.; Davis, M.M. Public awareness, perception, and use of online physician rating sites. JAMA J. Am. Med. Assoc. 2014, 311, 734–735. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef] [Green Version]
- van Velthoven, M.H.; Atherton, H.; Powell, J. A cross sectional survey of the UK public to understand use of online ratings and reviews of health services. Patient Educ. Couns. 2018, 101, 1690–1696. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
- McLennan, S.; Strech, D.; Meyer, A.; Kahrass, H. Public Awareness and Use of German Physician Ratings Websites: Cross-Sectional Survey of Four North German Cities. J. Med. Internet Res. 2017, 19, e387. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef] [PubMed] [Green Version]
- Van de Belt, T.H.; Engelen, L.J.; Berben, S.A.; Teerenstra, S.; Samsom, M.; Schoonhoven, L. Internet and social media for health-related information and communication in health care: Preferences of the Dutch general population. J. Med. Internet Res. 2013, 15, e220. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef] [PubMed] [Green Version]
- McLennan, S. The Content and Nature of Narrative Comments on Swiss Physician Rating Websites: Analysis of 849 Comments. J. Med. Internet Res. 2019, 21, e14336. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef] [PubMed] [Green Version]
- Glover, M.; Khalilzadeh, O.; Choy, G.; Prabhakar, A.M.; Pandharipande, P.V.; Gazelle, G.S. Hospital Evaluations by Social Media: A Comparative Analysis of Facebook Ratings among Performance Outliers. J. Gen. Intern. Med. 2015, 30, 1440–1446. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef] [Green Version]
- Pew Research Center. Social Media Use in 2018. Available online: http://www.pewinternet.org/search/?query=social%20media%20update%202018 (accessed on 28 March 2021.).
- Bardach, N.S.; Hibbard, J.H.; Greaves, F.; Dudley, R.A. Sources of traffic and visitors’ preferences regarding online public reports of quality: Web analytics and online survey results. J. Med. Internet Res. 2015, 17, e102. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef] [Green Version]
- Academia Sinica, Center for Survey Research. 2012. Available online: https://survey.sinica.edu.tw//research/03_2.html (accessed on 28 March 2021).
- Academia Sinica, Center for Survey Research. CATI Methodology and Sample Selection Criteria. Available online: https://survey.sinica.edu.tw//research/document/0102_2019.pdf (accessed on 28 March 2021).
- Department of Household Registration, Ministry of the Interior, Republic of China (Taiwan). Household Registration Statistics Data Analysis. Available online: https://www.ris.gov.tw/info-popudata/app/awFastDownload/toMain_panel (accessed on 28 March 2021).
- Han, X.; Qu, J.B.; Zhang, T.T. Exploring the impact of review valence, disease risk, and trust on patient choice based on online physician reviews. Telemat. Inform. 2019, 45, 101276. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
- Stevenson, F.A.; Kerr, C.; Murray, E.; Nazareth, I. Information from the Internet and the doctor-patient relationship: The patient perspective—A qualitative study. BMC Fam. Pract. 2007, 8, 47. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef] [Green Version]
- Oh, H.J.; Lee, B. The Effect of Computer-Mediated Social Support in Online Communities on Patient Empowerment and Doctor-Patient Communication. Health Commun. 2012, 27, 30–41. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
- Sommerhalder, K.; Abraham, A.; Zufferey, M.C.; Barth, J.; Abel, T. Internet information and medical consultations: Experiences from patients’ and physicians’ perspectives. Patient Educ. Couns. 2009, 77, 266–271. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
- Tan, S.S.L.; Goonawardene, N. Internet Health Information Seeking and the Patient-Physician Relationship: A Systematic Review. J. Med. Internet Res. 2017, 19, e5729. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
- Schulz, P.J.; Rothenfluh, F. Influence of Health Literacy on Effects of Patient Rating Websites: Survey Study Using a Hypothetical Situation and Fictitious Doctors. J. Med. Internet Res. 2020, 22, e14134. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
- Nutbeam, D. The evolving concept of health literacy. Soc. Sci. Med. 2008, 67, 2072–2078. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
- Han, X.; Li, B.; Zhang, T.; Qu, J. Factors Associated With the Actual Behavior and Intention of Rating Physicians on Physician Rating Websites: Cross-Sectional Study. J. Med. Internet Res. 2020, 22, e14417. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
- Gong, Y.L.; Wang, H.; Xia, Q.; Zheng, L.; Shi, Y. Factors that determine a Patient’s willingness to physician selection in online healthcare communities: A trust theory perspective. Technol. Soc. 2021, 64, 101510. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
- Zhang, S.; Wang, J.N.; Chiu, Y.L.; Hsu, Y.T. Exploring Types of Information Sources Used When Choosing Doctors: Observational Study in an Online Health Care Community. J. Med. Internet Res. 2020, 22, e20910. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
- Emmert, M.; Kast, K.; Sander, U. Characteristics and decision making of hospital report card consumers: Lessons from an onsite-based cross-sectional study. Health Policy 2019, 123, 1061–1067. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
- Wang, Y.; Wu, H.; Lei, X.; Shen, J.; Feng, Z. The Influence of Doctors’ Online Reputation on the Sharing of Outpatient Experiences: Empirical Study. J. Med. Internet Res. 2020, 22, e16691. [Google Scholar] [CrossRef]
No (%) | |
---|---|
Total n | 1250 (100) |
Age (years) | |
20~29 | 340 (27) |
30~39 | 336 (27) |
40~49 | 314 (25) |
50~60 | 256 (21) |
Missing | 4 (0.3) |
Male | 672 (54) |
Employment industry a | |
Manufacturing | 235 (19) |
Construction | 83 (7) |
Wholesale and retail | 108 (9) |
Accommodation and catering | 86 (7) |
Health care and social work | 78 (6) |
Other | 444 (36) |
Unemployment | 209 (17) |
Missing | 7 (1) |
Education | |
Vocational high school or below b | 370 (30) |
Junior college c | 155 (12) |
Technical or military university d | 235 (19) |
General university | 300 (24) |
Graduate school or doctorate | 190 (15) |
Marital status | |
Never | 520 (42) |
Married | 631 (50) |
Divorced | 65 (5) |
Widowed | 24 (2) |
Separated | 8 (2) |
Missing | 2 (0.2) |
Health information seeking | 988 (79) |
Internet use per day last week | 1190 (95) |
Long-term health conditions | 232 (19) |
Level of urbanization | |
High-level | 360 (29) |
Median-level | 396 (32) |
Emerging | 265 (21) |
Common | 148 (12) |
Aging | 12 (1) |
Agricultural | 22 (2) |
Remote areas | 31 (3) |
Missing | 16 (1) |
Official Report Card | Private PRWs | |
---|---|---|
ORs (95% CI) | ORs (95% CI) | |
Area-level | ||
Degree of urbanization | 0.96 (0.84, 1.09) | 1.04 (0.92, 1.18) |
Individual-level | ||
Age (Ref: 40~49 years) | ||
20~29 | 0.55 (0.33, 0.92) * | |
30~39 | 0.55 (0.34, 0.90) * | |
Employment industry (Ref: Health care and social work) | ||
Manufacturing | 0.22 (0.11, 0.46) *** | 0.18 (0.09, 0.34) *** |
Construction | 0.41 (0.17, 0.95) * | 0.30 (0.14, 0.66) ** |
Wholesale and retail | 0.28 (0.12, 0.66) ** | 0.27 (0.13, 0.55) *** |
Accommodations and catering | 0.33 (0.13, 0.79) * | 0.27 (0.12, 0.59) ** |
Other | 0.30 (0.16, 0.57) *** | 0.25 (0.14, 0.42) *** |
Unemployment | 0.41 (0.21, 0.81) * | 0.30 (0.17, 0.56) *** |
Education (Ref: Vocational high school or below a) | ||
General university | 0.59 (0.35, 0.98) * | |
No long-term condition | 0.58 (0.38, 0.88) * | 0.60 (0.41, 0.87) ** |
Health information seeking | 1.92 (1.14, 3.25) * | 1.88 (1.16, 3.04) ** |
Social Media or Google a | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
Use of Report Card | Use of PRWs | Use | Action/Response | |
ORs (95% CI) | ORs (95% CI) | ORs (95% CI) | ORs (95% CI) | |
Area-level | ||||
Degree of urbanization | 1.01 (0.79, 1.29) | 1.02 (0.87, 1.19) | 1.07 (0.97, 1.18) | 1.09 (0.97, 1.22) |
Individual-level | ||||
Age (Ref: 50~60 years) | ||||
20~29 years | 2.39 (1.51, 3.76) *** | 2.18 (1.51, 3.15) *** | ||
30~39 years | 2.49 (1.69, 3.69) *** | 2.31 (1.65, 3.24) *** | ||
40~49 years | 1.63 (1.13, 2.37) ** | |||
Male | 0.72 (0.56, 0.93) * | 0.67 (0.51, 0.91) ** | ||
Education (Ref: Vocational high school or below b) | ||||
Junior collegec | 2.23 (1.19, 4.17) * | 1.59 (1.04, 2.43) * | 2.06 (1.23, 3.45) ** | |
Technical military universityd | 1.61 (1.08, 2.39) * | 1.90 (1.19, 3.01) ** | ||
General university | 2.58 (1.55, 4.29) *** | 1.59 (1.10, 2.31) * | 2.18 (1.41, 3.37) *** | |
Graduate school or doctorate | 3.24 (1.89, 5.56) *** | 2.60 (1.73, 3.92) *** | 3.83 (2.42, 6.05) *** | |
Marriage (Ref: unmarried) | ||||
Married | 1.38 (1.03, 1.85) * | |||
Internet use per day | 5.43(2.06, 14.35) *** | 5.41 (1.26, 23.17) * | ||
Health information seeking | 4.97 (1.19, 20.83) * | 27.51(3.80, 199.16) ** | 4.40 (3.03, 6.37) *** | 4.14 (2.50, 6.88) *** |
Publisher’s Note: MDPI stays neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations. |
© 2022 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
Share and Cite
Chen, T.-T.; Wu, C.-I.; Chiu, M.-H.P.; Hsu, J.-L.; Liao, M.-H.; Hsueh, Y.-S.A.; Su, W.-C. Factors Associated with the Patient/Client Use of Report Cards, Physician Rating Websites, Social Media, and Google for Hospital and Physician Selection: A Nationwide Survey. Healthcare 2022, 10, 1931. https://doi.org/10.3390/healthcare10101931
Chen T-T, Wu C-I, Chiu M-HP, Hsu J-L, Liao M-H, Hsueh Y-SA, Su W-C. Factors Associated with the Patient/Client Use of Report Cards, Physician Rating Websites, Social Media, and Google for Hospital and Physician Selection: A Nationwide Survey. Healthcare. 2022; 10(10):1931. https://doi.org/10.3390/healthcare10101931
Chicago/Turabian StyleChen, Tsung-Tai, Chyi-In Wu, Ming-Hsin Phoebe Chiu, Jia-Lien Hsu, Mao-Hung Liao, Ya-Seng Arthur Hsueh, and Wei-Chih Su. 2022. "Factors Associated with the Patient/Client Use of Report Cards, Physician Rating Websites, Social Media, and Google for Hospital and Physician Selection: A Nationwide Survey" Healthcare 10, no. 10: 1931. https://doi.org/10.3390/healthcare10101931
APA StyleChen, T.-T., Wu, C.-I., Chiu, M.-H. P., Hsu, J.-L., Liao, M.-H., Hsueh, Y.-S. A., & Su, W.-C. (2022). Factors Associated with the Patient/Client Use of Report Cards, Physician Rating Websites, Social Media, and Google for Hospital and Physician Selection: A Nationwide Survey. Healthcare, 10(10), 1931. https://doi.org/10.3390/healthcare10101931