Impact of Online Patient Reviews: Three Choice-based Conjoint Experiments of Hospital and Physician Ratings

Patients are increasingly using online healthcare reviews to make choices about their medical providers. This paper uses a series of three conjoint experiments, which required prospective patients to select a care provider, to examine how ratings of physicians and affiliated hospitals influence patients’ choice of medical providers. Participants (N = 1,030), recruited through a crowdsource website, were randomly assigned to online ratings corresponding to different choice-based experimental conditions. Study 1 (N = 263) showed that online quality ratings of a physicians’ hospital affiliation influenced people’s willingness to use the physicians’ service. This finding held in selection of both primary and specialty care. Study 2 (N = 511) demonstrated people were more willing to choose a physician when the physician’s affiliated hospital had higher clinical outcomes ratings versus patient experience ratings. This effect was stronger when people were choosing a specialist than a primary care physician. Study 3 (N = 256) utilizes the same materials as Study 2 within the context of seeking a physician to help with migraines and participants rated physician competence and perceived quality of medical care. Results show patients expected higher quality of medical care when they chose a physician with higher patient experience ratings. Implications for future research and practice are discussed.