February 17, 2012, 9:26 AM

Contrary to research that says patients exaggerate their opinions about physicians in online reviews, a new study published in Archives of Internal Medicine found that patients' online hospital ratings accurately determine which facilities have high death rates and infections.

Researchers at Imperial College London studied 10,274 patient ratings on the National Health Service (NHS) Choices website between 2009 and 2010 and concluded that hospitals with better patient ratings tend to have a 5% lower death rate and 11% lower readmission rate than those that scored worse, reported the Telegraph.

Similarly, hospitals with high cleanliness ratings had a 42% lower rate of MRSA infections.

The findings suggest that patient feedback on treatment may be more indicative of care quality than previously thought.