Can online reviewers really appreciate their surgeons’ medical performance? : an empirical study on cardiac surgeons’ performance in New York State

Abstract

The more online review platforms are used, the greater the controversy over their usefulness. It has been known to be useful in inferring the quality of search aspects and experience aspects through online reviews. However, services that have primarily credence aspects, like the healthcare services, are controversial about the usefulness of online reviews. In the healthcare industry, where a serious asymmetry of information between patients and doctors exists, it is known that patients can’t appreciate physicians’ performance because they lack complete medical knowledge. Using online reviews of surgeons at Healthgrades and medical outcomes of cardiac surgery in New York state, this research investigated whether online users have the ability to assess their physicians’ performance properly. This research found that online patients did not appear to make an adequate evaluation of the medical quality. Moreover, the final patient’s evaluation did not seem to be diverged depending on what procedure was received despite the difference in the patient’s risk factors and the level of difficulty in handing. It will be the first study to investigate whether the relevance of the assessment varies depending on operations within the same disease group. It will provide an implication on utilizing online reviews to all stakeholders in the healthcare industry including healthcare providers, platform managers, and patients.