Association of Social Media Presence with Online Physician Ratings and Surgical Volume Among California Urologists: Observational Study.

Justin Houman,James Weinberger,Timothy J Daskivich,Ashley Caron,Alex Hannemann,Devin Patel,Ariel Moradzadeh,Michael Zaliznyak

doi:10.2196/10195

Justin Houman, James Weinberger + Show 6 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.2196/10195

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Abstract

BackgroundUrologists are increasingly using various forms of social media to promote their professional practice and attract patients. Currently, the association of social media on a urologists’ practice is unknown.ObjectivesWe aimed to determine whether social media presence is associated with higher online physician ratings and surgical volume among California urologists.MethodsWe sampled 195 California urologists who were rated on the ProPublica Surgeon Scorecard website. We obtained information on professional use of online social media (Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, blog, and YouTube) in 2014 and defined social media presence as a binary variable (yes/no) for use of an individual platform or any platform. We collected data on online physician ratings across websites (Yelp, Healthgrades, Vitals, RateMD, and UCompareHealthcare) and calculated the mean physician ratings across all websites as an average weighted by the number of reviews. We then collected data on surgical volume for radical prostatectomy from the ProPublica Surgeon Scorecard website. We used multivariable linear regression to determine the association of social media presence with physician ratings and surgical volume.ResultsAmong our sample of 195 urologists, 62 (32%) were active on some form of social media. Social media presence on any platform was associated with a slightly higher mean physician rating (β coefficient: .3; 95% CI 0.03-0.5; P=.05). However, only YouTube was associated with higher physician ratings (β coefficient: .3; 95% CI 0.2-0.5; P=.04). Social media presence on YouTube was strongly associated with increased radical prostatectomy volume (β coefficient: 7.4; 95% CI 0.3-14.5; P=.04). Social media presence on any platform was associated with increased radical prostatectomy volume (β coefficient: 7.1; 95% CI –0.7 to 14.2; P=.05).ConclusionsUrologists’ use of social media, especially YouTube, is associated with a modest increase in physician ratings and prostatectomy volume. Although a majority of urologists are not currently active on social media, patients may be more inclined to endorse and choose subspecialist urologists who post videos of their surgical technique.

Highlights

Social media use is becoming increasingly common among both health care consumers and urologists
Most California urologists were not active on social media, we found that professional use of social media was associated with higher online physician ratings and increased prostatectomy volume
Physicians are increasingly using online social media to interact with their patients and promote their practices, to date, it is unclear whether this activity has any demonstrable effect on productivity outcomes

Summary

Introduction

Social media use is becoming increasingly common among both health care consumers and urologists. Urologists currently use social media for a variety of reasons, including discussing patient cases, sharing patient education materials, creating forums to discuss journal articles, and connecting attendees at large academic conferences [4,5] Beside these reasons, there are numerous academic advantages to social media use to expand professional networks, create new opportunities for academic collaboration, and increase citation potential for papers [6]. Objectives: We aimed to determine whether social media presence is associated with higher online physician ratings and surgical volume among California urologists. Social media presence on YouTube was strongly associated with increased radical prostatectomy volume (β coefficient: 7.4; 95% CI 0.3-14.5; P=.04). Social media presence on any platform was associated with increased radical prostatectomy volume (β coefficient: 7.1; 95% CI –0.7 to 14.2; P=.05). Conclusions: Urologists’ use of social media, especially YouTube, is associated with a modest increase in physician ratings and prostatectomy volume. A majority of urologists are not currently active on social media, patients may be more inclined to endorse and choose subspecialist urologists who post videos of their surgical technique

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