The mediatization of the patient-physician relationship from the pati...

Recently, the Internet has become an increasingly important source of health information for patients in many western societies and it is the communication medium with the fastest adoption rate ever observed. Similar to the usage of rating sites for products and services (e.g. hotels, restaurants, shops), patients are more and more interested in using rating websites in the health sector, especially to support the decision about selecting a specific physician. A consistent increase of the number of physician rating websites (PRWs) has been noticed especially in the US, GB and Germany with more than 30 existing private PRWs. It is of interest that PRWs in general do not only support patients‘ decision about which physician to consult, but also offer a large amount of information on those areas or dimensions, which are essential for patient satisfaction. From the individual physician’s perspective, PRWs on one the hand can be seen as a valuable measurement instrument revealing patients’ experiences and satisfaction, but on the other hand they can also offer the opportunity to deliver central basic information (e.g. address, opening hours, contact address etc.) for new patients and, even more important, a link to one’s own  website address. PRWs as well as physicians’ websites are therefore an important communication tool not only targeted at existing patients, but also targeted at generating leads from the website visitors’ group. Knowledge about PRW and physician’s website usage of patients in Austria, however, is scarce. Thus, the authors report on an empirical study with 442 respondents that investigates the knowledge and usage of PRWs as well as the knowledge and usage of one’s own general practitioner (GP) website. An online survey was conducted in December 2016. It focuses on determining the usage and importance of different digital communication channels in the patient-physician relationship in order to communicate with the GP at present and in the future. Besides, for those, who know about their own GP’s website, patient satisfaction with and the importance of different aspects of the existing website are investigated and a future perspective has been added. The results emphasize the importance of GPs’ websites and PRWs at present and in the future. The findings have implications for theory and practice, not only in health marketing, but also from a mediatization perspective.