Login to Access Video or Poster Abstract: MP32-17
Sources of Funding: none

Introduction

Urologists are increasingly using various forms of social media to promote their professional practice and attract patients. Concurrently, most patients are using consumer ratings to help select providers. We sought to determine whether social media presence is associated with higher online consumer rating scores and surgical volume among California urologists.

Methods

We sampled 195 California urologists rated on the ProPublica Surgeon Scorecard website. We obtained information on professional use of online social media (Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Blog, YouTube) from 2012-2016 and defined social media presence as a binary variable (yes/no) for use of an individual platform or for use of any platform. We collected data on online consumer ratings across websites (Yelp, Healthgrades, Vitals, RateMD, UCompareHealthcare) and calculated the mean consumer rating score across all websites as an average weighted by number of reviews. We then gathered data on surgical volume for radical prostatectomy and transurethral resection of prostate (TURP) from ProPublica. We used multivariable linear regression to determine the impact of social media presence on consumer ratings and surgical volume.

Results

Among our sample of 195 urologists, 62 (32%) were active on some form of social media (53 YouTube, 15 Facebook, 14 Twitter, 10 Blog, 6 Instagram). In multivariable analysis, social media presence on any platform was associated with slightly higher mean consumer rating score (β coefficient 0.3, 95% CI 0.01-0.5, p=0.045). However, in models assessing the impact of individual social media platforms, only YouTube was associated with higher consumer rating score (β coefficient 0.3, 95% CI 0.0-0.5, p=0.04). In multivariable analysis, social media presence on any platform was significantly associated with prostatectomy volume (β 35.7, 95% CI 3.2-68.1, p=0.03) but not TURP. Prostatectomy volumes were most strongly associated with presence on Twitter (β coefficient 66.1, 95% CI -66.8-39.5, p=0.01) and YouTube (β coefficient 31.0, 95% CI -1.4-63.4, p=0.06).

Conclusions

Urologists' use of social media, especially YouTube, is associated with a modest increase in consumer ratings. Social media presence, particularly on Twitter and YouTube, is strongly associated with prostatectomy volume but not TURP. Although the majority of urologists are not currently active on social media, patients may be more inclined to endorse and choose sub-specialist urologists who post videos of their surgical technique and are actively involved in Twitter.

Funding

none