The review reliability problem
Academic research on online physician reviews has consistently found three major problems:
- Selection bias: Only a small fraction of patients write reviews, and they skew toward extremes — very satisfied or very dissatisfied.
- Inconsistent criteria: A "5-star" experience means something different to every reviewer. One patient's 5 stars reflects punctuality; another's reflects a correct diagnosis.
- Non-medical framing: Patients are not equipped to evaluate clinical competence. They evaluate likeability, wait time, and office cleanliness — not whether the diagnosis was correct.
What survey-driven scoring does differently
DoctorsReportCard's GoDoc score uses a validated 13-question survey instrument that asks patients specific, measurable questions about their experience. Questions like "Was your diagnosis correct?" and "Did you understand your treatment plan?" get at the clinical dimensions that matter.
By requiring every patient to answer the same questions, the score removes the inconsistency problem. A score of 750 means the same thing across every physician in the database.
The publication threshold
GoDoc scores only become public after a minimum of 3 surveys. This prevents gaming and reduces noise from outlier responses. The more surveys a doctor has, the more reliable their score becomes.