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For better or worse, online platforms and social media have enabled individuals to publicly post their opinions of businesses online. As a result, business are at the mercy of public feedback, which can have an impact on their success.

Hospitals and physicians are not immune to this trend. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services has pushed the idea of consumerization through price transparency policies and the Five-Star Quality Rating System so that patients can rate their providers, for example.

But what is the actual value of a star rating?

On this episode of A Health Podyssey, Alan Weil interviews Dr. Adam Schwartz, associate professor of orthopedic surgery at the Mayo Clinic College of Medicine and Science, who wrote a research paper with colleagues in the January 2021 issue of Health Affairs on the monetary value of an additional hospital or physician star rating when choosing a provider for total joint replacement.

While patients' interpretation of star ratings has been poorly understood historically, Schwartz and his colleagues put forward data to help spur further research to understand the value and trust patients place in publicly reported quality ratings.

Listen to Alan Weill and Adam Schwartz discuss public reporting, quality ratings, and their implications on hospital and physician businesses.

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