Commissioned by the National Health Care Institute, Nivel has conducted research into international platforms for ratings and reviews where patients share their healthcare experiences. Transparency of quality information is important for providing good healthcare. This involves publicly sharing information about performances, patient experiences and outcomes. Transparency can improve accountability, strengthen trust and help patients make better choices. In the research, Nivel investigated how these platforms work, how they ensure the reliability of information and what lessons are learned.

Reason: questions about the reliability of patient experiences

The National Health Care Institute has the legal task of providing insight into the quality of care that is provided. Healthcare providers are required to provide data to the National Health Care Institute for this purpose. The National Health Care Institute publishes this quality data on the website Zorginzicht. Patient organisations use this information to create selection tools. These are tools that patients can use when choosing a healthcare provider. These selection tools are published on the platform ZorgkaartNederland, among others. ZorgkaartNederland also collects information about patient and client experiences. However, the reliability of these experiences is regularly questioned in the media. This was the reason for the National Health Care Institute to have this research carried out.

Objective: to maintain the reliability of review platforms

The goal of this study was to look for ways to maintain the reliability of review platforms and to find a balance between the legal right of patients and clients to information on quality of care. As well as the right of physicians and other professionals to a safe learning and working environment. Our expectation was that research into how this was designed in other countries could help.

Summary: outcomes of the research

The various rating and review platforms try to make healthcare more transparent and patient-oriented, but their focus and design differ. This is shown by research conducted by Nivel across 14 platforms in OECD countries. OECD stands for Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). The study comes to a number of conclusions:

  • The different rating and review platforms vary in focus.
  • The level of information about patient experiences differs between platforms.
  • The reliability of ratings and reviews is a sensitive issue.
  • There is a need for rating and review platforms and for collaborative improvement.