WebMD Announces the WebMD Choice Awards, the First-Ever Awards to Rank Health Systems Based on Perceptions of Consumers and Healthcare Professionals

NEW YORK, Oct. 28, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- With healthcare consumerism continuing to accelerate, WebMD is launching the WebMD Choice Awards, first of their kind rankings that give hospitals and health systems a reliable measure of the preferences and perceptions of consumers and physicians in their communities.

The WebMD Patient Choice Awards empower consumer decision-making when they are actively seeking care.  The WebMD Physician Choice Awards offer healthcare professionals meaningful information on the perspective of their peers as they are making referrals.  At a time when improving patient experience and engagement are among the most important priorities for health system leaders, the voice of the consumer and community healthcare professional is largely missing from existing health system award and recognition programs. There are currently no reliable rankings that represent perceptions and preferences at the community level. 

The WebMD Choice Awards close these gaps by leveraging WebMD and Medscape's deep national reach to uncover the perceptions of consumers and physicians where it matters - in a hospital's local market.

"We know that health systems are prioritizing patient experience and engagement, and that's a positive and important trend," said Ann Bilyew, Senior Vice President, Health and Group General Manager, WebMD Provider Services. "But until now, most health systems had no reliable measurement of the preferences and perceptions of the patients and physicians in their communities. The WebMD Choice Awards provide them with these insights, which can help them thrive and compete in a consumer-driven healthcare environment."

Click here to learn more and view rankings:  https://doctor.webmd.com/choice-awards

Phoenix-based Banner Health was among the award recipients.

"We are honored that Banner Health has been recognized with a WebMD's Choice Awards in recognition of excellence in neurology, oncology, cardiovascular and orthopedic service lines, said Marjorie Bessel, M.D., chief clinical officer. "The fact that this award is bestowed based on the opinions of patients and physicians makes it especially significant and special."

"There is no other comparable awards program that presents robust health system rankings through the lens of how the consumer and external physician communities think about and view these concerns," said John Whyte, M.D., Chief Medical Officer, WebMD. "This is especially important during a time of unprecedented acceleration in healthcare consumerism, when online information is used to inform among life's most impactful and crucial decisions."

Patient and HCP Perception Measurement

A consumer survey was conducted via a live poll intercept randomly targeted to relevant condition areas and audiences at WebMD.com. The physician survey targeted a random subset of healthcare professionals in primary care and specialty areas (physicians, physician assistants, and nurse practitioners) via email.

The survey questions were structured to measure general perceptions of the best overall health system in six specific therapeutic categories: Oncology, cardiology, orthopedics, gastroenterology and neurology.

Respondents were asked to:

• Select the health system they believe provides the best overall quality and treatment capability from a predetermined list;
• Select their primary reasons for their top choice from a closed-ended list of options (e.g., innovative technology, skilled physicians);
• Select the health system they believe provides the second-best quality and treatment capability;
• Indicate what their second-ranked health system could do to become their first choice.  Respondents were also asked to indicate what a health system could do to improve their perceptions.

To understand the perception of national and regional competitors, a set of follow-up questions were asked to determine whether respondents believed there were better options outside of their local designated market area.

Leveraging robust methodology, WebMD then used these dual consumer/professional perspectives to identify Best-in-Class Health Systems in a specific geographic market.

Criteria and Rankings

The survey included health systems with more than 500 beds, or that are ranked in the top 10 in revenue or the top 10 in discharge volume in a specific market.

Platinum Awards go to health systems in the top 25%, followed by Gold Awards in the top 26% to 50%. Leading Awards rank the next 50%.  The awards are then broken down by region and treatment as well as by specialty and sub-region.

Survey Methodology

The WebMD Patient Choice Awards survey was conducted via a live poll intercept randomly targeted to relevant condition areas and audiences at WebMD.com, and geo-targeted and mapped to zip codes to gather market specific information.  Sample sizes ranged from 1,000 to 1,500 per health system service line.

The Physician Choice survey targeted a random subset of healthcare professionals in primary care and specialty areas (physicians, physician assistants, and nurse practitioners) via email, with geo-location data based on respondent National Provider Identifier (NPI) numbers. Sample sizes range from 250 to 300 per health system service line.

Consumers took the survey online and via mobile interrupter and health care professionals answered the survey online.  All survey data was collected anonymously.

To learn more about the Choice Awards methodology, click here:

https://doctor.webmd.com/choice-awards/methodology

About WebMD

WebMD, an Internet Brands company, is at the heart of the digital health revolution that is transforming the healthcare experience for consumers, patients, healthcare professionals, employers, health plans and health systems. Through public and private online portals, mobile platforms, and health-focused publications, WebMD delivers leading-edge content and digital services that enable and improve decision-making, support and motivate health actions, streamline and simplify the healthcare journey, and improve patient care.

The WebMD Health Network includes WebMD Health, Medscape, Jobson Healthcare Information, MediQuality, Frontline, Vitals Consumer Services, Aptus Health, Krames, PulsePoint, The Wellness Network, MedicineNet, eMedicineHealth, RxList, OnHealth, Medscape Education, and other owned WebMD sites. WebMD®, Medscape®, CME Circle®, Medpulse®, eMedicine®, MedicineNet®, theheart.org® and RxList® are among the trademarks of WebMD Health Corp. or its subsidiaries.

SOURCE WebMD Health Corp.