News: Survey data of older patients shows the importance of online reviews when selecting a doctor

Word-of-mouth recommendations from family and friends remains one of the more common ways elder patients select their physician, according to survey data of adults aged 50 to 80 years reported in Annals of Internal Medicine. The survey data shows online physician ratings and reviews were considered very important among 20.3% of survey respondents against 23.0% of survey respondents indicating word-of-mouth recommendations from family and friends were considered very important.

However, the top three factors included whether the physician accepted their health insurance (93.0% of survey respondents), how long it takes to get an appointment (61.2%), and convenience of office location (58.7%),  HealthLeaders reported.

"This finding is very significant, as word of mouth recommendations from family and friends have historically been one of the most important sources of information about doctors. Further, we found that online ratings and reviews were considered very important more often than other parts of a physician's background, such as where they trained or attended medical school," Jeffrey Kullgren, MD, MS, MPH, an associate professor of internal medicine at University of Michigan, told HealthLeaders.

Editor’s note: This article was originally published by HealthLeaders. To read ACDIS coverage of other publicly reported data news items, click here.