Yelp, other online reviews sites help improve patient care

As patient ratings continue to gain traction in healthcare, sites like Yelp are contributing to the improvement of patient care, according to a new report from the New York Times.

Most data on patient satisfaction is collected through the Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems survey, which can be costly for healthcare systems. But now sites like Yelp and RateMDs.com can be used to extract patient satisfaction information and it tends to be free.

Physicians in San Francisco found that high ratings on Yelp were associated with lower mortality for myocardial infarction and pneumonia, along with fewer readmissions.

To read more about how online review sites are influencing health system ratings, follow the link below:

Katherine Davis,

Senior Writer

As a Senior Writer for TriMed Media Group, Katherine primarily focuses on producing news stories, Q&As and features for Cardiovascular Business. She reports on several facets of the cardiology industry, including emerging technology, new clinical trials and findings, and quality initiatives among providers. She is based out of TriMed's Chicago office and holds a bachelor's degree in journalism from Columbia College Chicago. Her work has appeared in Modern Healthcare, Crain's Chicago Business and The Detroit News. She joined TriMed in 2016.

Around the web

Boston Scientific has announced another significant M&A deal, scooping up an Israeli medtech company focused on RDN technology. 

Harvard’s David A. Rosman, MD, MBA, explains how moving imaging outside of hospitals could save billions of dollars for U.S. healthcare.

The recall comes after approximately 3% of patients treated with the device during the early stages of its U.S. rollout experienced a stroke or transient ischemic attack following surgery. The expected stroke rate is closer to 1%, the FDA explained.