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Higher Facebook ratings linked with lower hospital readmission rates

Hospitals with low readmission rates were associated with higher ratings on Facebook, according to a recently published study.

“These findings add support to the small but growing body of literature suggesting that unsolicited feedback on social media and hospital ratings sites corresponds to patient satisfaction and objective measures of hospital quality,” McKinley Glover, MD, MHS, of the department of radiology at Massachusetts General Hospital, and colleagues wrote.

McKinley Glover

Glover and colleagues used cross-sectional data from Hospital Compare to detect hospitals that were measuring outside the national expected average for unplanned readmission rates within 30 days (n = 4,805) to assess the correlation between their ratings on Facebook’s five-star rating scale and readmission rates.

Hospitals that were performing better than average (n = 315) had a higher likelihood of using Facebook compared with those that were below the national average (n = 364) (93.3% vs. 83.5%, P < .01). Hospitals with low readmission rates had average Facebook scores (4.15 ± 0.31) that were higher than hospitals with high readmission rates (4.05 ± 0.41, P < .01). Major teaching hospitals had significantly higher odds of having higher readmission rates (OR = 14.3; P < .01).

When factoring for hospital characteristics and Facebook-related variables, a one-star increase in Facebook ratings was linked to a greater chance of the hospital having low readmission rates (CI: 2.6-10.3, P < .01).

“Hospitals should be aware that social media rating may influence patient perceptions of hospitals and potentially their health care choices. Hospitals and other health care organizations should also be aware of the potential message they send by not using social media,” Glover said in a press release. – by Casey Hower

Disclosure: The researchers report no relevant financial disclosures.