Rate your doctor

[flashl]

Booster Shots
Oddities, musings and some news from the world of health.

Rate your doctor (why we wrote the story)

Consumer empowerment has reached new heights -- with average Americans weighing in on professors, plumbers, just about everyone. Most people would say that's a healthy trend, one not without perils for individuals but nevertheless empowering for consumers overall. Now doctors are finding themselves subject to such ratings. And they're squeamish.

It's understandable. Physicians are morally compelled to provide care to even the most combative, unreasonable or irrational patients. And what might they get for their efforts? An anonymous attack for all the world to see.

Reporter Shari Roan had been noticing the growing number of doctor-rating sites (RateMDs.com, Vitals.com, DrScore.com and others) at the same time her eldest daughter was telling her how helpful RateMyProfessors.com is for college kids in signing up for classes. "I started thinking about whether the doctor ratings sites were useful, accurate and fair," she says.

What she found was a public hungry for more complete information about the men and women to whom they entrust their lives. Americans don't apparently believe that medical boards, insurance companies or doctors themselves will tell the truth. And so they've turned to each other.

LA Times

[tekisui]

1. Mine is imaginary.

[flashl]

2. LGFD (Looks Good From the Door) Syndrome? nt

[tekisui]

3. Yep, and the Better Stay Healthy prescription.

I will get healthcare coverage in few weeks, my wife has just gotten a new job with benefits.

[Donnachaidh]

4. there is a problem with these sites

Employees of doctors and their family members have been known to go in and rate them far higher than they should be. This is especially true if a doctor has gotten a poor rating from a disgruntled patient. :shrug:

[flashl]

5. Typcial US MO. Either withhold or distort info, then claim Americans are dumb. nt

[shireen]

6. thanks for that link ... those ratings can be misleading

I found a negative rating for my gynecologist, which really annoyed me because she's taken very good care of me for more than a decade! So I entered my own rating to counter the other one (that was based on just one visit!).
RateMDs.com can be misleading if one disgruntled patient decides to take out his/her frustration on that doctor. My gynecologist's ratings demonstrated that!

[chicagomd]

7. I am luke warm on the ratings.

They are purely subjective and may only be based off one experience. Not to mention the fact that people are much more likely to complain about someone than post a positive or neutral experience.

I still think the best way to find a physician is to ask a friend then make sure they have a clean record and if possible be Board certified in their field. After all, if you are in a position where you can choose your doctor, you can always leave if you don't like them.

If you are not in a position to pick then the rankings don't mean a lot, anyway.

[lizerdbits]

8. Hypochondriacs will write negatively

about anyone who doesn't tell them what they think they have based on their google search.

And then there's my BIL's mother who tries to tell my BIL he needs a new doctor because he didn't get some medicine to fix something. (A couple liver enzymes were elevated, further testing including MRI showed nothing, then they were back to normal. He didn't get drugs to fix things so they must be missing something even though lab results are now fine.)

[varkam]

9. Selection bias abound.

I don't know how fair these sites are going to be. People will typically only submit ratings if they had either a stellar or a terrible experience with a particular doctor (and probably will slightly be more inclined if it is the latter).

[old mark]

10. I guess I am disgruntled-

-my former doctor was treating me for carpal tunnel syndrome. I had heart disease, only found out after winding up in the ER with my second heart attack of the day. After a quad bypass, I thinked the surgeon for throwing in the carpal tunnel job, told him the story and name of my ex doc, and he laughed.
My lawyer later told me I couldn't sue the doctor for being stupid, but if you could, many lawyers would be rich.

My new doc is first rate even if she looks 22.

mark

[MountainLaurel]

11. It's problematic

But any information is better than no information at all.