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Scientific Oral Presentations

Care Equity, Quality, and Safety

Session: Scientific Oral Presentation 1 - Care Equity, Quality and Safety

Patient Satisfaction Scores in Otolaryngology Are Affected by Gender and Race Concordance

Sunday, October 12, 2025

1:06 PM - 1:12 PM EDT

Location: 138

Disclosure(s):

Freddy A. Espinoza, S.B.:

faculty for this accredited education activity has no relationship(s) with ineligible companies to disclose.

Maeher R. Grewal, MD:

faculty for this accredited education activity has no relationship(s) with ineligible companies to disclose.

Kristine A. Smith, MD:

faculty for this accredited education activity has no relationship(s) with ineligible companies to disclose.

Introduction: Patient satisfaction scores (PSS) are often used as a proxy to measure health care quality, which can impact hospital and provider reputation and be integrated into financial incentives, including reimbursement. While described as an objective metric, PSS are multifactorial and may be affected by unconscious bias. Previous work examining academic otolaryngology has suggested PSS are not impacted by provider demographics, however work in other fields suggests otherwise. This study aimed to determine whether patient and provider demographics impact PSS in Otolaryngology.

Methods: Press Ganey survey results for Otolaryngology provider clinic appointments at a tertiary care hospital were obtained over a 10-year period, as well as patient and provider demographics. Univariate and multivariate analyses were performed to assess the impact of demographic variables on PSS.

Results: From 2013 to 2022, 26,123 survey responses were identified for unique patient encounters. 3,719 survey encounters were for female providers (14.2%), and 22,404 for male providers. On multivariate analyses, female providers received lower PSS from female patients than male patients (p < 0.01). Minority race patients (Asian, Black, Hispanic) also gave lower PSS than their Caucasian counterparts (p < 0.05).

Conclusions: Contrary to previous work, this study demonstrated that PSS in otolaryngology are impacted by gender and race concordance. Given that PSS are often used to quantify quality of care, physician evaluations, and reimbursement, consideration of and adjustment for biases impacting these surveys is warranted.

Presenting Author(s)

Freddy A. Espinoza, S.B.

Medical Student
University of Utah
Salt Lake City, CA, United States

Disclosure(s):
faculty for this accredited education activity has no relationship(s) with ineligible companies to disclose.

Co-Author(s)

Maeher R. Grewal, MD

Resident Physician
University of Utah Health
Salt Lake City, UT, United States

Disclosure(s):
faculty for this accredited education activity has no relationship(s) with ineligible companies to disclose.
SA

Shaelene Ashby, PhD

Clinical Research Coordinator
University of Utah
Salt Lake City, UT, United States

Disclosure information not submitted.
GO

Gretchen Oakley, MD

Associate Professor
University of Utah, United States

Disclosure information not submitted.

Presenting Author(s)

Kristine A. Smith, MD

Associate Professor
University of Utah
Salt Lake City, UT, United States

Disclosure(s):
faculty for this accredited education activity has no relationship(s) with ineligible companies to disclose.

Senior Author(s)

Kristine A. Smith, MD

Associate Professor
University of Utah
Salt Lake City, UT, United States

Disclosure(s):
faculty for this accredited education activity has no relationship(s) with ineligible companies to disclose.