Health care systems preparing to adapt University of Utah Health Care's online physician reviews

As other health care systems around the country prepare to follow in the footsteps of University of Utah Health Care —the first hospital system in the country to post online physician reviews and comments —Utah's only academic medical center is reporting new data about the innovative venture it launched in December 2012.

University of Utah Health Care watched web traffic to its online physician profiles skyrocket after implementing online physician reviews, analytics show. In March 2014, page views to University of Utah Health Care physician profiles totaled 122,072 —a dramatic increase from the 32,144 page reviews tallied before the system's effort to publish online physician reviews and comments had been fully adopted. The surge in web traffic is a strong indicator that patients and consumers appreciate the transparency and additional information that online reviews can bring, said Thomas Miller, M.D., chief medical officer at University of Utah Health Care.

University of Utah Health Care uses data from more than 40,000 patient surveys to rate its physicians on nine measures using a five-star system. Patients are e-mailed an electronic survey within a few days following their medical appointment and are asked to complete questions about the care they received. Feedback is posted to the web site, but is also used to improve all areas of patients' clinical experiences.

Other health care systems have consulted with the university while adapting their own respective models of online physician reviews, said Brian Gresh, senior director of interactive marketing and web at University of Utah Health Care.

"There are many systems out there looking at how to do this," said Gresh. "We're pleased that we've set the bar high and can serve as a model in the U.S. for how to post physician reviews online successfully."

Elsewhere in the U.S., Piedmont Health Care recently went live with online physician reviews and Wake Forest Baptist Health soon will be experimenting with the idea.

SOURCE University of Utah Health Care