As the American Medical News reports, a new Harris survey finds very few people actually are using these services to make decisions about changing physicians:

A Harris Interactive poll commissioned by the California HealthCare Foundation found that although more than 80% of the state’s adults turn to the Internet for health-related information, less than one-quarter have looked at physician ratings sites. Only 2% of those surveyed made a change in physicians based on information posted on a rating site.

That’s good news for docs worried that these services might lead to a patient exodus based upon the exchange of reviews and information about them. But it may also be a sign of how long before consumers’ purchase decisions are significantly influenced by these types of services. Rome wasn’t built in a day and people’s way of dealing with their health — and their healthcare professionals — will take time to change. Perhaps years. Perhaps longer.

Or, perhaps, these kinds of rating services will be recognized for what they ultimately are — unscientific slices of people’s opinions who have the biggest bones to pick. Rating a recently purchased book ala Amazon.com isn’t like rating individual, real people and professionals. There’s no research data that shows any of these rating services offer a valid, scientifically random sampling of the population to get any kind of objective view of the professional being rated. Instead, you’re getting the two extremes, with little balance in-between.

It would be nice if there were a way to do this kind of service objectively, with reliable scientific data (e.g., like the Harris poll itself). Until that time, I don’t find it surprising that consumers have little interest in making decisions based upon these services.

Read the full article: Patients rarely use online ratings to pick physicians

Dr. John Grohol is the CEO and founder of Psych Central. He is an author, researcher and expert in mental health online, and has been writing about online behavior, mental health and psychology issues -- as well as the intersection of technology and human behavior -- since 1992. Dr. Grohol sits on the editorial board of the journal Cyberpsychology, Behavior and Social Networking and is a founding board member and treasurer of the Society for Participatory Medicine.

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    Last reviewed: By John M. Grohol, Psy.D. on 15 Jun 2008
    Published on PsychCentral.com. All rights reserved.