Hospitals publishing individual docs' patient satisfaction ratings/comments

[Marcus Brody]

Hospital I know of has decided to publish the Press Ganey patient satisfaction scores and comments on each physician's profile page (mostly primary care but also EM and urgent care). There is an appeal process for truly outrageous comments but pretty much everything gets posted, from praise/criticism of the waiting time to complaints about not getting antibiotics. Wondering if any other hospitals are doing this, what people think about it, pros and cons, etc.

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[GonnaBeADoc2222]

Scare tactic.

I wonder if this violates any libel laws?

 

[gamerEMdoc]

Well, that's a hell of a way to hamstring your physician recruitment department.

 

[Birdstrike]

Hospital I know of has decided to publish the Press Ganey patient satisfaction scores and comments on each physician's profile page (mostly primary care but also EM and urgent care). There is an appeal process for truly outrageous comments but pretty much everything gets posted, from praise/criticism of the waiting time to complaints about not getting antibiotics. Wondering if any other hospitals are doing this, what people think about it, pros and cons, etc.

This is a sign of the times. Go online today and you can read reviews about me from patients. Most are good, some even glowing. Some, on the other hand, are false and defamatory, usually from people who were drug addicts or dealers that wanted pain pills to abuse or sell, and when I did the right thing and told them, "No," they went ballistic and wrote online I was a quack who they wouldn't let treat their dead dog. In 2019, we are no different than any other widget business and are treated as such, just like a hotel, restaurant or deodorant stick with reviews on Yelp. Welcome to the Walmartization of Medicine.

Ways to deal with this: You can otherwise encourage patients who you know are happy with you to complete the survey if asked, to balance the bad with the good. For the open online reviews, you can also print out a sheet with the top 2 or 3 review sites that come up when your name is googled, and hand it out to the happy patients you know who love you. This creates a more balanced sample (since unhappy and unbalanced people are more likely to post comments) and pushes negative reviews off the first page. This is probably more relevant for outpatient docs who are fighting for patients, as opposed to the ED setting where you have more patient's than you could ever want. Some docs have gone as far to pay services to go online and post fake positive reviews (I don't recommend, not ethical). Or, perhaps the best approach is to ignore these, never look at them, and conclude it's BS and not worth your time.

"Haters gonna hate" -Proverbs 9:8.

 

[Birdstrike]

Scare tactic.

I wonder if this violates any libel laws?

If the words published are false and defamatory, yes, libel laws could be violated. If true or opinion, then that speech is protected.

 

[betamale]

4/5 on Google, 4.3/5 on Uber (I get motion sickness ). Whoop

 

[southerndoc]

The person responding to the survey isn't publishing your details -- the hospital is. Therefore, libel wouldn't apply.

 

[Hamhock]

The person responding to the survey isn't publishing your details -- the hospital is. Therefore, libel wouldn't apply.

If the hospital knows or can easily confirm falsehood of the statements, wouldn't the hospital be committing libel?

HH

 

[Hamhock]

Hospital I know of has decided to publish the Press Ganey patient satisfaction scores and comments on each physician's profile page (mostly primary care but also EM and urgent care). There is an appeal process for truly outrageous comments but pretty much everything gets posted, from praise/criticism of the waiting time to complaints about not getting antibiotics. Wondering if any other hospitals are doing this, what people think about it, pros and cons, etc.

Please identify this hospital.

It doesn't sound like the hospital you work at, so no privacy would be lost.

I find it frustrating when we post on this anonymous forum with "outrage" but won't be specific and accurate. In this case, it is especially annoying because the post is about online exposure of physicians...yet we won't identify the hospital online !?!

HH

 

[southerndoc]

If the hospital knows or can easily confirm falsehood of the statements, wouldn't the hospital be committing libel?

HH

Yes, the hospital might be at fault. Would be almost impossible to win a lawsuit for this. I wish someone with more cajones than me would start suing hospitals for PG related performance measures.

 

[RoyBasch]

Who cares? If patients want to call the ER, find out I'm on duty (not sure the clerk would actually tell them anyways), look up my reviews online, decide they are not good, and go to a different ER, that's fine by me. I'm making the same hourly wage if that person shows up or not.

These reviews are more important for outpatient physicians treating elective or less time-depending conditions who must compete with each other for patients.

You get get your total knee arthroplasty anytime between now and eternity, if you want to do research on which orthopedist is "the best," you generally can. If you have "10/10 abdominal pain" you generally go to the closest ER. The ER is still gonna have patients packing the waiting room when I show up for my next shift.

Now if your SMD/CMG/group/employer whatever ties your performance and job security to these reviews, then you have reason to care about them; however, this is independent of them being published publicly anyways.

My point is, if you're in a situation where you need to care about reviews, then you need to care about reviews, and "where" they are published is immaterial.

 

[emergentmd]

I have no problem with hospitals doing this but ONLY if they do it across the board.

The staff rates admin every year. Post those comments for everyone to see so they can be "informed" about how the hospital is run.

Oh wait... this will never happen.

 

[GeneralVeers]

I have no problem with hospitals doing this but ONLY if they do it across the board.

The staff rates admin every year. Post those comments for everyone to see so they can be "informed" about how the hospital is run.

Oh wait... this will never happen.

How about like TripAdvisor where the "manager" replies to the comments? We should be allowed to do this on all of the comments. When people complain about the wait time we can respond and point out their wait was due to lab delays, nursing staff shortage, etc.

 

[emergentmd]

How about, the CEO is banging the ER nurse manager who really sucks but never held accountable.

 

[WilcoWorld]

How about like TripAdvisor where the "manager" replies to the comments? We should be allowed to do this on all of the comments. When people complain about the wait time we can respond and point out their wait was due to lab delays, nursing staff shortage, etc.

Funny, I expect that such replies are the best way for this practice to get a doc into trouble.

Scenario:
Patient waits to be treated for non-emergent complaint.
Patient posts a bad review of the doctor, saying that the wait was "forever" while they were "literally dying".
Doc replies that the wait was due to nursing call ins and hospital overcrowding.
Admin reprimands doc for "not casting the institution in a positive light" and informs them that further infractions will be grounds for dismissal.

 

[Old_Mil]

Hospital I know of has decided to publish the Press Ganey patient satisfaction scores and comments on each physician's profile page (mostly primary care but also EM and urgent care). There is an appeal process for truly outrageous comments but pretty much everything gets posted, from praise/criticism of the waiting time to complaints about not getting antibiotics. Wondering if any other hospitals are doing this, what people think about it, pros and cons, etc.

Who do they plan of staffing the department with?

Because if a department I interviewed with told me that was the plan, I would laugh and then walk out the door.

 

[Vandalia]

Nothing an administrator would do would surprise me, but I would be shocked if they actually put all comments and survey results online. I guarantee it will be cherry-picked comments like "He was the best doctor ever!" and "The hospital staff is fabulous!". They aren't putting all the results - or negative results - online. It ain't happening. Now go back to the first clause of my first sentence.

The problem with respect to defamation is that it is basically an impossible case to win in the US. Most states have adopted "anti-slapp" laws that immediately dismiss any defamation suit on a topic that is a "public concern" (i.e., healthcare) and make the plaintiff liable for the defendant's attorney fees. There are also many exceptions to the basic rules of defamation. For example:

"Dr. Vandalia is a child molester." Is defamation - if false. The problem is proving any damages, let alone collecting them.
"Dr. Vandalia refused to give me any good drugs, so he is a child molester." Is not defamation - the "disclosed facts" exception.

 

[Marcus Brody]

Please identify this hospital.

It doesn't sound like the hospital you work at, so no privacy would be lost.

I find it frustrating when we post on this anonymous forum with "outrage" but won't be specific and accurate. In this case, it is especially annoying because the post is about online exposure of physicians...yet we won't identify the hospital online !?!

HH

This may or may not be it:

About the Press Ganey Survey | University of Utah Health

Find A Doctor | University of Utah Health | University of Utah Health

 

[Birdstrike]

All you need to know about online doctor reviews is to read about Dr. Christopher Duntsch who was such a criminally bad doctor, he not only lost his license, he's serving a life sentence for his maiming and murdering of patients. But he had great reviews! 4.5 stars on healthgrades (now deleted) and 4 stars on RateMDs, still.

Healthgrades Screen Grab

Dr. Christopher D. Duntsch, Inactive


Propublica: "A Surgeon So Bad It Was Criminal"
A Surgeon So Bad It Was Criminal — ProPublica

 

[Birdstrike]

The other elephant in the room, is that if you practice bad medicine, cater to a lot of bad impulses like prescribing inappropriate narcotics to abusers and dealers, inappropriately prescribe demanded antibiotics for viruses, order expensive, needless radiologic studies, then you'll certainly get higher, not lower, reviews. While there's a lot of feel-good lip service given to "good medicine" and "cost reduction" it seems there's not much real motivation by government regulators, insurance companies or hospital administrators to confront this essential truth.

 

[KGflyboy]

This may or may not be it:

About the Press Ganey Survey | University of Utah Health

Find A Doctor | University of Utah Health | University of Utah Health

Thank you! It's important that we start naming names in situations like this. Too many times I see people post horror stories about locums companies, CMGs, and hospitals while censoring the offending company's identity.

People who don't have the balls to stand up against practices like this are the reason hospitals are getting away with it.

 

[hundreddaysoff]

How about like TripAdvisor where the "manager" replies to the comments? We should be allowed to do this on all of the comments. When people complain about the wait time we can respond and point out their wait was due to lab delays, nursing staff shortage, etc.

I can't think of anything I'd want to do less with my free time than respond to drug dealers etc on Angie's List or whatever in a diplomatic way that won't offend my overlords.

I wonder if U of U admin think they can get away with this because SLC is such a desirable place to live for some of us. This is the kind of crap that pushes people to sell out and firefight for CMGs. Eg, my buddy in residency, who finally returned to his family in UT and couldn't find a decent local gig after doing the traveling student thing for at least 7 years.

 

[deleted547339]

All you need to know about online doctor reviews is to read about Dr. Christopher Duntsch who was such a criminally bad doctor, he not only lost his license, he's serving a life sentence for his maiming and murdering of patients. But he had great reviews! 4.5 stars on healthgrades (now deleted) and 4 stars on RateMDs, still.

Healthgrades Screen Grab

Dr. Christopher D. Duntsch, Inactive


Propublica: "A Surgeon So Bad It Was Criminal"
A Surgeon So Bad It Was Criminal — ProPublica

Lol. 6/15 nsgy in Plano!