Online patient reviews found to correlate with outcomes

There have been conflicting papers on the usefulness of online patient reviews as a proxy for quality, and NYS Health Foundation just released a paper in its favor. Previous studies looked at the correlation between online patient reviews and results of a survey known as HCAHPS, while this study assessed the correlation between online reviews and a New York state data set known as SPARCS. SPARCS, or Statewide Planning and Research Cooperative System, collects outcomes data and publishes risk-adjusted mortality rates for certain cardiothoracic procedures. This data represents something closer to what we typically think of as quality than the HCAHPS survey.

New York's decision to collect and publish this data was initially controversial, with some affected providers threatening to leave the state. Hopefully, New York will expand the data collection to cover other specialties. Even better would be for other states to follow suit.