How Would You Rate Your Doctor?

This week, the 2018 Top Doctors of Phoenix arrived in the mail. Double the thickness of the regular Phoenix Magazine—this sumptuous, four-color special edition is a healthcare bonanza. Every healthcare company in the metropolitan area seems to have paid for advertising space. Insurers, hospitals, private practices, urgent care centers. An impressive compendium of smiling professionals eager to schedule your next appointment.

Top Doctors?

So how do they select the top doctors? The answer—by surveying other doctors. In essence, physicians complete forms indicating whom they believe to be the best physicians. Then, the magazine confirms that each of the recommended physicians is board certified. Finally, names are cross-referenced against the state’s records to confirm that there hasn’t been any disciplinary action in the last 5 years. Hmm.

Surveys? Board-Certified? Disciplinary Action?

During the course of my career, I don’t recall many physicians being interested in completing surveys. For one, their time is absorbed by seeing patients. Physician offices are chaotic, busy places. The focus is mostly on the management of the physician’s schedule—making sure that patients are being seen in a timely fashion. Board certification? Well, it sounds great—but it’s really the standard. Hospitals only affiliate with board-certified doctors or those young physicians on their way to board-certification. The same is true for insurance companies. And as for disciplinary action, a physician has to do some fairly outrageous stuff before they find themselves in that quandary. This certainly has nothing to do with ensuring quality.

So How Do You Measure Quality?

Let’s take orthopedic surgery. If you need a knee replacement, you should know how many knees that physician does each year. You should be concerned about the infection rate, readmissions to the hospital, and even the mortality rate. Those statistics offer real insight into a physician’s quality of care.

Electronic Medical Records

In the age of EMRs, that is exactly the kind of data that is sourced. Healthcare and insurance executives have access to it so that they can effectively manage reimbursement from the Federal Government. But to the consumer, such data remains proprietary. So, until quality data is readily available, instead of looking through a magazine, you’re probably better off asking your trusted primary care physician for a referral to a specialist. And as for the magazine? Well, it still looks good on the coffee table.