Doctor directory is first step to new “Physician Compare” website

 HEALTHY LIVING

Doctor directory is first step to new “Physician Compare” website

Jan 5, 2011 4:07 PM

The federal government recently took the first step toward a website that, if all goes well, will eventually help consumers shop for doctors based on patient reviews and the quality of the care they provide.

The program is part of the new health-reform law, which among many other things, required Medicare to launch the website, called Physician Compare, by January 1. For now, it’s mainly an up-dated nationwide list of health-care providers who accept Medicare patients.

Still, it's helpful. The directory is searchable by zip code or city and state, as well as by medical specialty.  Results show the doctor’s name, address, gender, phone number, and languages spoken. Those closest to you are listed first. And it includes not just M.D.s, but also chiropractors, clinical psychologists, dietitians, nurse practitioners, occupational therapists, optometrists, osteopaths, physical therapists, physician assistants, and podiatrists—932,000 providers in all.

You don’t have to be a Medicare patient to use the tool, since doctors and other health-care providers who see Medicare beneficiaries also see people under age 65.Doctors who are already reporting quality information to Medicare—under a program called the Physician Quality Reporting System—have a mention of that participation in their profiles. That's a plus since it indicates they are committed to divulging such information. Later this year, Medicare will also list doctors who participate in a voluntary effort to encourage doctors to prescribe medicines electronically.Addition information will be added over time including, by 2015, the first actual measures of quality of care. Data for those measures will come from patient surveys, payment records, and electronic health records.Via http://news.consumerreports.org/health/2011/01/physician-compare-website-doctor-directory-is-first-step-to-new-physician-compare-website-.html

The Patient Will Rate You Now

These days, I’d never consider trying a new restaurant or hotel without reading the on-line ratings on TripAdvisor or Yelp. I seldom even bother with professional restaurant or travel critics.

Until recently, there was little patient-generated information about doctors, practices or hospitals to help inform patient decisions. But that is rapidly changing, and the results may be every bit as transformative as they have been in traditionally consumer-centric industries like hospitality. Medicine has never thought much of the wisdom of crowds, but the times, as the song goes, they are a-changin’.

Even if one embraces the value of listening to the patient, several questions arise. Should we care about the patient’s voice because of its inherent value, or because it can tell us something important about other dimensions of quality? How best should patient judgments be collected and disseminated – through formal surveys or that electronic scrum known as the Internet? And what are some of the unanticipated or negative consequences of measuring patient satisfaction and experience? All of these questions are being debated actively, and some newly published data adds to the mix.

Via The Patient Will Rate You Now

Rating the Raters: Physician Compare

By NAOMI FREUNDLICH

Let’s say you’ve enrolled in a new health insurance plan and need to find an internist who participates. How do you decide which doctor to choose? My (long deceased) grandmother made her choices by using the following criteria: She looked for a male doctor with a Jewish-sounding last name who graduated from an American medical school—preferably one located in New York City. Nowadays her narrow (and culturally biased) criteria would have excluded some of the most esteemed practitioners around.

If you are like most people, you don’t depend on your grandmother’s advice to find a physician, but rather ask friends, colleagues or other doctors for recommendations. But taking one person’s experience with an internist or surgeon as a signal that he or she is “really good” is still far from the optimal way to choose a practitioner.

Over the years, several commercial websites like HealthGrades and Angie’s List have cropped up that provide such consumer-friendly information as the distance a doctor’s office is from the patient, and whether foreign languages are spoken there. They usually include ratings that reflect consumers’ personal experiences with the practitioner. For people who want to dig deeper, most state medical boards collect data that can be searched to find out where your doctor went to medical school, where he did his residency and what board certifications she has. In some states you can also search to see if the doctor in question has received disciplinary action or been sued for malpractice.

Via Rating the Raters: Physician Compare