Doctors Reviewed Online

One of the growing trends online that has been spreading like a virus is that of sites that allow people to provide feedback on goods or services they have received. The ability to have an independent platform for both praise and complaints is refreshing to many. After all, most people trust "word of mouth," and the relation of personal experience far more than any sales pitch. It is the trend du jour, as sites across the net will demonstrate. There are websites for rating and reviewing all kinds of products and services ranging from cars to college professors, and now there are a whole new generation that focus on health care providers.

Via Shari Roan of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution:

They're saying what they think about the state of health care and, more specifically, the doctors who provide it. Dozens of Web sites that permit people to rate, review, spin or flame their doctors have sprung up in the past year, operating in much the same way as online services that help people find hotels or plumbers.

Patients and site operators say the trend is good for consumers and good for health care. Thoughtful doctors, they say, will provide better customer service because of the feedback, and the bad ones will no longer be able to hide. Many physicians say the reviews on RateMDs.com, Vitals.com, DrScore.com and other sites are skewed by disgruntled patients and are unfair, pushing some doctors to near-ruin after a single post.

Ms. Roan provides a lot of solid background and quotes from authorities that are both pro and con. She also includes a bullet list of the six top sites for the rating and reviewing of health care professionals.

Since legally a doctor cannot publicly discuss a patient's health care, they are at a bit of a disadvantage as far as dealing with detractors on the Internet, to say the least. It remains to be seen how much impact reviews like these will have on bad doctors, and likewise how much damage might be done to the good ones. In the past, I have worked in the service and retail industries, and in both it was very much a truism that 99% of people will never comment unless they have a complaint. This tendency has potential to skew these sites, so it will be interesting to watch the evolution of checks and balances develop as they evolve.

SOURCE: "Doctors are 'in' for online evaluation" 07/30/08
photo courtesy of Geishaboy500 used under its Creative Commons license

Transparency: The Government Angle

One of the big issues with American health care is the lack of ability to compare prices and care quality between care providers. As many people step forward in favor of market driven solutions -- a very good idea in many respects -- this sort of information is crucial to making informed decisions about said market. As a matter of fact many of the posts in our archives here on the blog are concerned with efforts to create this sort of transparency. Now the federal government, in the form of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, is embracing that stance.

Cherie Black over at the SeattlePI takes a look:

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services is running ads in both Seattle daily newspapers Wednesday showing consumers how to compare services and quality of care in area hospitals by using a new Web site.

The ads, which are running in more than 50 other newspapers across the country, promote Hospital Compare (hospitalcompare.hhs.gov), a Web site that scores 26 quality and patient satisfaction measures at nearly 4,000 hospitals nationwide.

This should be an interesting website launch to follow. The media blitz should get them a lot of traffic, and I am sure that soon there will be a lot of commentary floating around the net.

Using metrics like price of procedure, volume (how many of a single procedure are performed), percentage of patients who received anitbiotics an hour before surgery, and how many patients received help when they asked for it the site seems to cover a lot of ground. It is exactly this sort of information which can help create the informed market needed for a free market solution to gain traction.

More transparency in health care is a good thing, said Dr. Ed Walker, medical director at the University of Washington Medical Center, and this site shows how physicians are having more open conversations about errors and prevention.

"I bought my last car by going to Consumer Reports and looking at the comparisons," Walker said. "We have a populous who expects us to be like Consumer Reports, and while that may be a bit ahead of our time, we still have a good balance."

Indeed. This is the 21st Century, people are accustomed to being able to look up anything by simply spending a moment at their keyboard. Instant gratification is something that Americans have always had a penchant for. Google and the Internet have brought that attitude to the world of information and people are becoming highly dissatisfied with the delays endemic to almost any interaction with our health care system. In that respect this is a good thing.

But Walker cautioned consumers to realize that no one measure defines a hospital, and some measures can be imprecise. For example, some measures, such as whether patient received antibiotics before a surgery, are easily defined -- there's a surgery checklist to consult or an empty bottle from the pharmacy as evidence. How long a patient had to wait to see a nurse after he or she was called is more subjective.

"How soon a nurse responded is influenced by a lot of things, including how many patients they have at one time," Walker said. "They weigh the needs of the patients simultaneously -- but we should aspire. These are our patients telling us how we're doing, and we should listen to that."

All in all, I expect this to be a major move forward. Only time will show how well they are able to implement and manage this service, but more transparency and more available information are always good things!

SOURCE: "New Web site compares hospital care: Services, costs and patient satisfaction are all measured" 05/21/08
photo courtesy of edans, used under its Creative Commons license

IADMD Offers Free Web Sites for Doctors & Dentists

According to a press release dated this morning, the International Association of Dental and Medical Disciplines (IADMD) is headed for the 33rd Yankee Dental Conference with some cutting edge plans. The medical professionals trade group is offering a new membership perk to those who join -- a professionally done, "upscale" website.

“A Web site is a like an office on the Internet and doctors should have flashy, professional and state-of-the-art Web sites,” says Dr. John J. Ryan, president of IADMD.

At the conference, the IADMD booth will be fully wired, so the various Web site design offerings IADMD offers can be displayed.

But it's more than just a giveaway. Connecting doctors of all disciplines to the Internet is the first step in an overall plan to reform the health care system so that doctors of all disciplines can communicate with one another and under one umbrella group.

The IADMD has an ambitious vision statement that embraces health care reform: "...to promote worldwide healing with a doctor-led, non-socialized plan, that does not add taxes or burdens on employers or individuals, and secures every person's right to the highest quality whole-body health care." Of particular note is the fact that IADMD websites will be e-commerce enabled, allowing patients to both pay online and order products from their doctors. The press release also touts the fact that a similar website would cost between five and ten thousand U.S. dollars, plus monthly hosting and administration fees.

The IADMD gets points for transparency. They are very straightforward about the fact that this is not only meant to be a necessary step forward technologically, but also a great way shine a spotlight on their own organization and efforts:

“If this sounds like a steal that’s because it is,” says Dr. Ryan. “People need to know that they are getting a bargain and we're doing it to get attention.”

The IADMD can be found at Booth #2812 and #2813 of the Yankee Dental Conference, January 30 - February 3 in Boston, Massachusetts. If any of our readers make it to the conference please stop by and share your thoughts about the IADMD initiative or other discoveries by posting a comment.

SOURCE: "New Doctor-led Health Care Reform Group All Smiles as it Heads to the Yankee Dental Conference" 01/28/08
SOURCE: "Yankee Dental Conference 33"

photo is a screencapture of the IADMD website's front page