Online reviews of health care facilities drop significantly after COVID-19 pandemic
· News-Medical"We analyzed Yelp reviews of health facilities nationwide-;which includes hospitals, urgent care centers, doctors' offices, and more," said Sehgal. "Our analysis shows how public perception of health care changed after COVID-19. And with this information, hopefully, health care professionals can work to improve upon what's been driving these opinions."
Feedback ups and downs
Trends emerge along ethnic and geographic lines
But when it came to areas with higher-than-average Hispanic populations, facilities still saw a decline in positive ratings, though the dips were not as pronounced.
"At the moment, we cannot understand what is driving these changes among different populations," Agarwal said. "But this could help us think critically on what questions to ask next and how to better deliver care around the nation in the future."
Researchers also identified ethnic correlations around the most mentioned complaints. Reviews for facilities in areas with higher Black and/or Hispanic populations criticized "insurance and billing issues" more often, while the facilities in areas with higher white populations found fault with "wait times" more often.
"Many of the themes have clear overlap but are distinct across geographic areas, which is interesting and begins to highlight a growing need for health systems and facilities to be more intentional and tailored to their local communities' needs-;and opinions," said Agarwal.
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