The 5-star ratings collected from 4 social networking sites was correlated with and predictive of the NHC and survey-based experience-of-care measures for Maryland nursing homes. The social media rating also predicted well NHC and experience-of-care measures after adjusting for nursing home covariates and market competition. The correlations between the social media rating and survey-based experience-of-care ratings ranged from 0.40 to 0.60, and the correlations between the social media rating and individual NHC quality measures of citations, nurse staffing, and complaints were about 0.35 (in absolute values). The overall ratings were 3.11 on average on these sites and 3.03 on the NHC website, with a Pearson correlation of 0.41 ( p < 0.001) between the 2 sets of ratings. One hundred ninety-six out of 206 nursing homes in Maryland were reviewed on at least one site and thus had one or more star ratings posted. We determined if the average score of social media ratings was associated with experience-of-care ratings derived from survey of family members or other responsible parties of nursing home residents, and with “Nursing Home Compare” (NHC) 5-star ratings and individual quality measures. We collected consumer-reported 5-star ratings of Maryland nursing homes posted from July 2015 to July 2017 on 4 popular social media or online review sites (Facebook, Yelp, Google Consumer Reviews, and ). Consumer-generated social media ratings of hospitals tend to reflect the more subjective aspects of inpatient care experiences however, evidence on nursing home care is extremely limited. Social media platforms offer unique opportunities for patients and families to provide real-time feedback on their healthcare experiences.

Nursing home compare 5 star ratings