Health & Fitness
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Picking a doctor is more complicated than picking a car
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Published: May 10, 2009
INDIANAPOLIS
Type "doctor" and "rating service" into an Internet search, and your computer will spit out more than 13,000 results, not exactly a concise Kelley Blue Book guide to cost and quality.
Many patients have become smarter health-care shoppers in recent years, with insurers and employers pushing them to spend wisely through high-deductible insurance plans.
There's more information available on doctors than ever before. But that doesn't mean that health-care shopping has become a refined science. Something as simple as choosing a doctor can quickly lead to information overload. Here are key factors to consider.
Q: What's most important when choosing a doctor?
A: Many experts and doctors say that word of mouth is still critical.
Surveys show that patients who chose doctors based on location or the first available appointment are least likely to be satisfied, according to Dr. John Santa, director of the Consumer Reports Health Rating Center.
"The folks who said ‘I chose based on impressions from friends and family' were the most likely to be satisfied," he said.
But word of mouth shouldn't be your only consideration.
"One of the things people have to understand is there's no one thing," said Arthur A. Levin, the director of the Center for Medical Consumers, a nonprofit consumer advocacy organization based in New York. "And that means that you've got to use everything that's available."
Q: Does that mean I should kill a weekend sifting through online reviews?
A: Probably not.
All sites are not created equal, so be skeptical. Many sites, including RateMDs.com, allow anonymous postings, which raises credibility questions. Some, such as Healthgrades.com, require payment to see reports.
People who have exceptionally good or bad experiences are more likely to post a review, Santa said, which means more typical experiences don't get reported.
Q: Are these ratings good for anything?
A: They can provide another form of word of mouth, albeit from strangers.
"It's about really getting an essence for what it's like to interact with that provider," said Angie Hicks, the founder of Angie's List.
Ratings site Angie's List, which charges a subscription fee but offers ratings of services that go well beyond doctors, attaches no names to its reviews. But the company knows which subscribers post a review, and it will check for accuracy if a provider objects to a review.
Q: Are there other helpful tools out there?
A: Check your insurer's directory, either online or printed, to make sure potential doctors are in its network. Many insurance plans charge steep fees for straying outside the network.
Insurers often provide quality rankings for doctors in their networks, and directories also can list office hours, languages spoken or other details about a practice.
Q: Can lawsuits point to trouble?
A: A malpractice lawsuit doesn't automatically mean a doctor has done something wrong. Some doctors, such as obstetricians and neurosurgeons, face more litigation than others because of their specialty or the high-risk cases they handle. It can be hard for the average patient to decide right or wrong.
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