Author(s)
Jay Agarwal, MD
Enrique Gorbea, MD
David Goldrich, BS
Roshan U. Nayak, BS
Jay Gandhi, BS
Alfred M. Iloreta, MD
Affiliation(s)
Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai;
Abstract:
Educational Objective: At the conclusion of this presentation, the participants should be able to determine whether otolaryngologist ratings on public physician rating websites correlate with surgeon specific outcomes for common otolaryngological procedures. Our statewide database study of suggests that these two variables are not related within our field. Objectives: To determine whether otolaryngologist ratings on public physician rating websites correlate with surgeon specific outcomes for common otolaryngological procedures. Study Design: Retrospective database cohort study. Methods: The Statewide Planning and Research Cooperative System (SPARCS) database was queried to search for surgeons who had performed inpatient tonsillectomy and adenoidectomy, total thyroidectomy, parotidectomy and uvulopalatopharyngoplasty from 1995-2015. Online surgeon ratings from healthgrades.com were then gathered and correlated to surgeon specific outcomes. Statistical analysis employed Spearman correlation coefficient and Kruskal-Wallis testing. Results: Overall, 547 otolaryngologists were identified in our query with at least 1 online review. For our data analysis, we excluded the bottom quartile of surgeons in volume and number of ratings. The remaining 313 surgeons were analyzed. Overall complication rate for all procedures was 6.29%. Providers had an average of 25 reviews with a 3.93 star rating. We found no significant correlation between surgeon complication rates and star rating (Á=-0.09, p=0.12; KW p=0.67). For each procedure, no statistically significant difference in complication rate was noted between surgeons across different star ratings. Conclusions: No correlation was seen between surgeon specific outcomes for common otolaryngology surgeries and online patient ratings. Due to lack of clinical outcomes association, patients should exercise caution when interpreting ratings on these websites.