A Health Podyssey

Listen to Health Affairs Editor-in-Chief Alan Weil interview Adam Schwartz, associate professor of orthopedic surgery at the Mayo Clinic College of Medicine and Science, on the monetary value of an additional hospital or physician star rating when choosing a provider for total joint replacement.

Show Notes

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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What is A Health Podyssey?

Each week, Health Affairs Editor-in-Chief Alan Weil brings you in-depth conversations with leading researchers and influencers shaping the big ideas in health policy and the health care industry.

A Health Podyssey goes beyond the pages of the health policy journal Health Affairs to tell stories behind the research and share policy implications. Learn how academics and economists frame their research questions and journey to the intersection of health, health care, and policy. Health policy nerds rejoice! This podcast is for you.