How Orlando Health Put Physician Star Ratings on Its Own Website (and Raised CG-CAHPS Scores 10%)

Orlando Health knew its physicians delivered quality care. Their ratings on third-party review sites did not reflect the high standard the organization set for itself. 

Leadership wanted to take control of the system’s online presence and give consumers the clearest possible picture of the care experience. 

The healthcare organization decided to host and publish verified physician star ratings directly on its own website, so families could see feedback from dozens or hundreds of patients rather than a handful of anonymous reviews.

To support the rollout, Orlando Health partnered with NRC Health.

Orlando Health used NRC Health’s patient experience solutions to publish verified patient ratings and comments on its physician pages. 

The solution draws on the organization’s existing patient experience survey data, so every published rating is tied to a real care encounter. 

Before anything goes live, an AI-powered Natural Language Processing engine screens each comment for errors, libel, abuse, and HIPAA violations. 

A physician’s rating is not published until at least 30 patients have responded, so no single experience defines a provider’s score. 

Approved feedback then appears on the health system’s website as star ratings, giving consumers a credible overview of provider performance when choosing a physician. The solution also gives physicians direct visibility into patient feedback. 

Providers can review what their own patients are saying, identify patterns in the care experience, and use those insights to improve.

“We knew our customers already were talking about us online, and we wanted to ensure consumers were getting the whole story. So, we added ratings and comments from verified patient surveys to our website. Now, instead of a handful of reviews, we can display feedback from dozens to hundreds of former patients. That kind of robust data enables consumers to make better-informed decisions about the physicians they choose.”

—Andrew Snyder, SVP, Marketing and Communications, Orlando Health

Within one year of the rollout, Orlando Health saw measurable improvements in review volume, physician engagement, referral confidence, and CG-CAHPS performance.

More Than 400 Physicians Cleared the 30-Review Threshold

Before working with NRC Health, Orlando Health’s physicians were represented online mainly by a small number of ratings on third-party sites. Those ratings did not reflect the experiences patients were reporting in surveys. After the health system began publishing verified patient feedback, more than 400 physicians cleared the 30-review minimum required for publication. 

Patients also reported strong satisfaction with their care, and the average physician rating reached 4.83 out of 5 stars.

Physicians Sought Out Coaching to Improve

A visible, public record of performance changed how Orlando Health’s providers worked. Physicians independently sought coaching from the customer-experience team and used what they learned to create teaching moments for other physicians across the system. 

Leaders describe their physicians as highly engaged and eager to improve every aspect of patient care, with patient comments providing reliable, concrete areas for improvement.

400+

physicians with 30+ reviews

4.83 out of 5

average stars for physicians

Verified Ratings Made Referrals Faster and More Confident 

Dr. Thomas Kelley, Orlando Health’s Vice President of Quality and Clinical Transformation and a practicing primary care physician, used the ratings to refer one of his patients to a surgical oncologist he had never met. The oncologist’s high star rating gave him the confidence to make the referral quickly, without relying on word of mouth.

CG-CAHPS Overall Physician Rating Increased 10% Orlando Health 

In the 18 months that followed, alongside other customer experience initiatives, its CG-CAHPS Overall Physician Rating Top Box score (ratings of 9 or 10) improved by 1.2 points, a 10% increase in its ranking. 

Together, these results show how publishing verified physician ratings can strengthen transparency for consumers, engage physicians in improvement, and contribute to measurable gains in patient experience scores.

“As a primary care physician, it’s my responsibility to get patients to the best resources possible. By using physician ratings from actual patients, I don’t have to rely on the grapevine. I can put my patients in good hands right away.”

—Dr. Thomas Kelley, Vice President, Quality and Clinical Transformation, Orlando Health

Orlando Health plans to build on these results by extending physician transparency across the entire system. 

With more than 400 physicians already holding public star ratings, the goal is for nearly all of the organization’s 600+ employed physicians to publish their ratings online. Leaders are confident that system-wide visibility will continue to drive providers toward higher performance levels.

“Our physicians are highly engaged. They’re hungry to improve all aspects of their care. Through patient comments, physician ratings gives them reliable, concrete points of improvement.”

—Sunil Desai, MD, Senior Vice President, Orlando Health and President, Orlando Heath Medical Group.

Health systems considering a similar transparency initiative can learn from three practices Orlando Health’s leaders recommend.

1. Over-Communicate With Physicians: Explain what the organization is doing, how the rating process works, and why transparency matters. Many physicians hesitate to post their personal star ratings online, often because they worry about being evaluated on factors beyond their control, such as facility amenities or wait times. Orlando Health addressed those concerns with an intensive awareness campaign. In multiple educational sessions, leaders explained how physician ratings work, how the program benefits the organization, and how screening protects providers from invalid reviews.
2. Reach Across the Organization: Give every stakeholder a sense of ownership in the transparency process. Orlando Health established a steering committee comprising a broad cross-section of leadership, including physicians, executives, marketing and communications staff, digital managers, and medical staff office administrators. Bringing that group together helped everyone feel included in the design of a major new initiative.
3. Start Small: Pilot the program before rolling it out system-wide. Orlando Health launched physician transparency in just two departments, urology and oncology. The pilot was large enough to show how the program would work across the organization and small enough to allow for experimentation and adjustment with minimal disruption.