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Can We Trust Online Physician Ratings? Evidence from Cardiac Surgeons in Florida

Author

Listed:
  • Susan Lu

    (Purdue University, West Lafayette, Illinois 47907)

  • Huaxia Rui

    (University of Rochester, Rochester, New York 14627)

Abstract

Despite heated debate about the pros and cons of online physician ratings, very little systematic work examines the correlation between physicians’ online ratings and their actual medical performance. Using patients’ ratings of physicians at RateMDs.com and the Florida Hospital Discharge data, we investigate whether online ratings reflect physicians’ medical performance by means of a two-stage model that takes into account patients’ ratings-based selection of cardiac surgeons. Estimation results show that five-star surgeons are associated with significantly lower mortality rates and are more likely to be selected by sicker patients compared with lower-rated surgeons. In contrast, not accounting for patients’ rating-based selection leads to the opposite outcome: patients treated by five-star surgeons had higher mortality rates than patients treated by surgeons rated below five stars. Further, we find that patients are not naïve: they know how to use different dimensions of online rating information when choosing a surgeon. Our findings suggest that we can trust online physician ratings, at least of cardiac surgeons.

Suggested Citation

  • Susan Lu & Huaxia Rui, 2014. "Can We Trust Online Physician Ratings? Evidence from Cardiac Surgeons in Florida," Working Papers 14-01, NET Institute.
    • Handle: RePEc:net:wpaper:1401
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    word of mouth; physician ratings; patient selection; quality disclosure;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • L15 - Industrial Organization - - Market Structure, Firm Strategy, and Market Performance - - - Information and Product Quality
    • I1 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

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