An Analysis Showing the Increasing Usage of Physician Rating Websites in Germany
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Abstract
Background:
Physician rating websites (PRW) have been addressed more and more in scientific literature and media within the last years. Although an increasing trend in usage is broadly assumed little evidence is available supporting this assumption.
Objective:
In this context this paper adds to the literature by presenting an analysis of all ratings for dentists which had been posted on the German PRW jameda in 2012 and 2013. Thereby, we provide both descriptive as well as analytical analysis.
Methods:
Dentist related data from the German PRW jameda was analyzed for both years. In total, it contained 76,306 ratings of 23,876 physicians from 72,575 patients. Information included medical specialty and gender of the physician, gender, age and health insurance status of the patient as well as the results of the physician ratings. Statistical analysis was carried out using the median-test and Kendall tau-b test.
Results:
So far, approximately 45% of all German dentists have been rated on jameda within the last two years. The total number of ratings rose from 28,777 in 2012 to 47,529 in 2013, respectively, showing an increase of 65%. Regarding both years, 45% of the dentists were rated once, less than 5% were rated more than ten times (mean number of ratings 3.16, SD 5.60, maximum 215). About one third of all rated dentists were female. Rating patients were mostly female (54%), between 30-50 years (54%), and covered by Statutory Health Insurance (78%). A mean of 1.05 evaluations per patient could be calculated (SD 0.245, maximum 15). Almost 80% of all ratings can be assigned to the best category “very good”. Female dentists have significant better ratings than their male colleagues (p<.001). Additionally, significant rating differences exist between medical specialties (p<.001). It could further be shown, that older patients and females give better ratings than their younger counterparts (p<.001). The same is true for patients covered by private health insurance which give more favorable evaluations than patients covered by statutory health insurance (p<.001). The likelihood of a good rating was shown to increase with a rising number of both dentists and patient ratings.
Conclusions:
Our findings are in line with the little available evidence from the US also showing an increasing trend within the last years what might contribute to reducing the lack of publicly available quality information. Compared to other medical specialities, dentists are even more likely to receive good ratings on the German PRW jameda.
Physician rating websites (PRW) have been addressed more and more in scientific literature and media within the last years. Although an increasing trend in usage is broadly assumed little evidence is available supporting this assumption.
Objective:
In this context this paper adds to the literature by presenting an analysis of all ratings for dentists which had been posted on the German PRW jameda in 2012 and 2013. Thereby, we provide both descriptive as well as analytical analysis.
Methods:
Dentist related data from the German PRW jameda was analyzed for both years. In total, it contained 76,306 ratings of 23,876 physicians from 72,575 patients. Information included medical specialty and gender of the physician, gender, age and health insurance status of the patient as well as the results of the physician ratings. Statistical analysis was carried out using the median-test and Kendall tau-b test.
Results:
So far, approximately 45% of all German dentists have been rated on jameda within the last two years. The total number of ratings rose from 28,777 in 2012 to 47,529 in 2013, respectively, showing an increase of 65%. Regarding both years, 45% of the dentists were rated once, less than 5% were rated more than ten times (mean number of ratings 3.16, SD 5.60, maximum 215). About one third of all rated dentists were female. Rating patients were mostly female (54%), between 30-50 years (54%), and covered by Statutory Health Insurance (78%). A mean of 1.05 evaluations per patient could be calculated (SD 0.245, maximum 15). Almost 80% of all ratings can be assigned to the best category “very good”. Female dentists have significant better ratings than their male colleagues (p<.001). Additionally, significant rating differences exist between medical specialties (p<.001). It could further be shown, that older patients and females give better ratings than their younger counterparts (p<.001). The same is true for patients covered by private health insurance which give more favorable evaluations than patients covered by statutory health insurance (p<.001). The likelihood of a good rating was shown to increase with a rising number of both dentists and patient ratings.
Conclusions:
Our findings are in line with the little available evidence from the US also showing an increasing trend within the last years what might contribute to reducing the lack of publicly available quality information. Compared to other medical specialities, dentists are even more likely to receive good ratings on the German PRW jameda.
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