Physician-patient interaction has been a central element of patient care. The quality of that interaction is often tied to the patients’ attitudes surrounding their experience and care. As the realm of medicine has expanded to the internet, new methods of physician–patient interaction and engagement have developed [[1], [2], [3]]. Physician online presence has allowed patients to begin to assess qualities of their surgeon and to form an opinion of the care that physician provides before they step foot in their office. Recent studies have shown that most patients find online ratings to be important and about a third of patients choose or avoid a physician based on their online ratings [1,2,[4], [5], [6]].

Physician awards, for example the Castle Connolly Top Doctors Awards, are typically endowed based on peer nominations. The Castle Connolly award is peer-nominated and subsequently reviewed by a physician-led research team. The awardees are described on the website as “best-in-class healthcare providers embodying excellence in clinical care as well as interpersonal skills. Castle Connolly Top Doctors represent the top 7% of all U.S. practicing physicians” [7]. Similarly, regional awards (e.g. Boston Magazine's Top Doctors) are peer-nominated awards that may be presented as an annual list as well as a public searchable directory. In the case of Boston Magazine 2023, they offer a find-a-doctor search tool to allow patients to identify the current ‘Top Doctors’ in their area [8].

Though patient-ratings and peer-nominated online awards are derived from two different populations in medicine, both endpoints are based on subjective, multifactorial opinions centered around clinical excellence and interpersonal skills. Recent studies in orthopaedics have identified differences in social media presence across various subspecialties [3,9]. These studies have developed and utilized a Social Media Index score which semi-quantitatively calculates the degree of social media presence for surgeons across multiple online platforms. One study found that a higher SMI score correlated significantly with higher ratings on Healthgrades.com [9]. A recent study by Damodar et al. in 2019 investigated the effect of social media presence of AAHKS members from Florida on online ratings, comments, and wait-times as well as Castle Connolly status [5].

Here we seek to utilize the evolving methodologies of recent studies on social media presence in Orthopaedics to assess the interplay between patient ratings and social media presence on peer-nominated awards in the population of AAHKS members from New England. We also assess how ratings and awards may be influenced by other demographic factors including surgeon age, years in practice, and/or practice location and type (i.e. private vs academic).