biostudies-literatureUnknown18(9)Emmert M<h4>Background</h4>Physician-rating websites have become a popular tool to create more transparency about the quality of health care providers. So far, it remains unknown whether online-based rating websites have the potential to contribute to a better standard of care.<h4>Objective</h4>Our goal was to examine which health care providers use online rating websites and for what purposes, and whether health care providers use online patient ratings to improve patient care.<h4>Methods</h4>We conducted an online-based cross-sectional study by surveying 2360 physicians and other health care providers (September 2015). In addition to descriptive statistics, we performed multilevel logistic regression models to ascertain the effects of providers' demographics as well as report card-related variabJournal of medical Internet researche254https://www.ebi.ac.uk/biostudies/studies/S-EPMC5048057biostudies-literatureDo Health Care Providers Use Online Patient Ratings to Improve the Quality of Care? Results From an Online-Based Cross-Sectional Study.PMC5048057Emmert MSander UMeszmer NfalseDo Health Care Providers Use Online Patient Ratings to Improve the Quality of Care? Results From an Online-Based Cross-Sectional Study.<h4>Background</h4>Physician-rating websites have become a popular tool to create more transparency about the quality of health care providers. So far, it remains unknown whether online-based rating websites have the potential to contribute to a better standard of care.<h4>Objective</h4>Our goal was to examine which health care providers use online rating websites and for what purposes, and whether health care providers use online patient ratings to improve patient care.<h4>Methods</h4>We conducted an online-based cross-sectional study by surveying 2360 physicians and other health care providers (September 2015). In addition to descriptive statistics, we performed multilevel logistic regression models to ascertain the effects of providers' demographics as well as report card-related variab2016-01-01T00:00:00Z2016 Sep2025-04-19T08:12:36.424Z2025-04-19T08:12:36.424ZS-EPMC50480572764413510.2196/jmir.5889