To date, Yelp is the most widely used freely available commercial website in the U.S. for rating hospitals. A recent study found such online consumer review platforms can supplement information collected through more traditional patient survey techniques, including the Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems survey.
The study, led by a team of researchers from the University of Pennsylvania’s Perelman School of Medicine in Philadelphia, compared the content of Yelp reviews of hospitals to domains in the HCAHPS survey. Responses from both sources overlapped in content, but Yelp reviews contained an additional 12 major topics not covered by the HCAHPS.
The study identified three main findings:
- A strong correlation exists between Yelp reviews and HCAHPS responses about overall hospital ratings;
- Yelp reviews cover far more topics than the HCAHPS survey. Yelp responses covered seven of the HCAHPS’s 11 domains, in addition to covering 12 more significant topics;
- Many Yelp reviews included topics strongly associated with positive or negative experiences that are not measured by the HCAHPS survey.
The researchers believe online consumer review sites like Yelp can provide additional information and contribute to understanding and measuring of hospital quality for patients, providers and policy-makers.
Nicholas joined TriMed in 2016 as the managing editor of the Chicago office. After receiving his master’s from Roosevelt University, he worked in various writing/editing roles for magazines ranging in topic from billiards to metallurgy. Currently on Chicago’s north side, Nicholas keeps busy by running, reading and talking to his two cats.