AI-Assisted Sentiment Analysis of ACFAS Fellowship-Trained Foot and Ankle Surgeon Online Reviews

Online physician ratings and reviews prove useful among patients when selecting a provider. Analyzing such reviews across medical and surgical specialties to determine their emotional tone through sentiment analysis yielded varying levels of positivity, negativity, and neutrality. To provide insight into what patients are saying, this study similarly analyzes the sentiment of physician ratings and reviews among foot and ankle surgeons. Healthgrades ratings and reviews, entered as of February 2024, were collected among the American College of Foot and Ankle Surgeons (ACFAS) fellows along with each surgeon's demographic information. ChatGPT was used to perform a sentiment analysis to describe the positivity, negativity, and neutrality of online physician reviews. Ratings and review sentiment were described among the sample and between sexes. Among 268 fellows, men received higher average rating scores than women (p = .02), From the 2339 reviews, women received a greater proportion of negative reviews compared to men (p < .001). The overall sentiment scores among men were higher than women (p < .001). There existed a very weak inverse relationship between ratings and years in practice (R = −0.16; p = .01). Fellowship-trained foot and ankle surgeons received predominantly positive reviews. When comparing sexes, males received higher ratings with higher sentiment scores. As patients place high credence in online reviews when selecting their provider, surgeons should remain mindful of and monitor or manage their online reputation.