Patients are more likely to select a physician based on care quality versus appointment availability when presented with more contextualized information on clinical expertise, according to a survey conducted by San Francisco-based digital health company Grand Rounds.
For the survey, Grand Rounds polled 1,100 members on how they choose a physician. One survey section asked respondents to choose between two different physicians based on fake profiles. Half of the respondents viewed traditional profiles that included quality measures like patient ratings and prescribing rates. The other half viewed profiles that contained highly contextualized quality information for each physician.
Respondents who said they usually prioritize appointment availability when choosing a physician were four times more likely to favor clinical expertise over availability after viewing the more contextualized physician profiles.
"This survey shows that if presented with contextualized information about a physician, people will choose a more qualified physician over one that is more convenient, in a significant way," said Nate Freese, senior director of data strategy at Grand Rounds. "Further, based on our findings, traditional metrics like patient ratings, prescribing rates, and volume of patients seen were not nearly as compelling to respondents as more qualitative, contextualized statements about a doctor’s clinical expertise."
To view the full survey analysis and see examples of the physician profiles, click here.
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