Ratings of doctors: Five stars for Consumer Reports

When I choose a car, I do my homework carefully, as my family's lives will depend on the decision.  I'm easily able to find the ratings of thousands of consumers, on a dozen dimensions, via Consumer Reports' well-known five-star rating system.  

However, I've been unable to do my due diligence, and have been frustrated, in making a different high-stakes decision, that of helping my mother find a doctor in Atlanta.  Each of several rating organizations posts only a handful of consumers' ratings, if any, of a given physician.   

Maybe there's hope now, at least for consumers of medical services in Massachusetts.  In today's Boston Globe, Chelsea Conaboy described a new resource for patients in Massachusetts, courtesy of Consumer Reports and Massachusetts Health Quality Partners.  Beginning today, they're posting ratings of almost 500 physician practices that each had at least 50 patient surveys.  

MHQP has been posting physician ratings for several years.  Barbra Rabson, the head of MHQP, said the average physician practice has improved its ratings since 2009.  Such reporting is a powerful stimulus toward improvement.

Kudos to Consumer Reports!

And, can we fantasize that someday we'll have pricing information, too?

Read the chapter on choosing a doctor in Getting Your Best Health Care:  Real-World Stories for Patient Empowerment.

Wow! They do care: A patient-centered medical home

Dr. Lester Hartman of Westwood-Mansfield Pediatrics sent out an email message to the parents of his patients, as part of his new initiative to get to know his patients. He is trying to get to a four-star rating on knowledge of patients by the doctor, according to patient surveys conducted by Massachusetts Health Quality Partners (MHQP).

He asks the parents, "What is important for us to know about your child?". His staff then enter the answer into the electronic medical record, in a prominent yellow PostIt area on the computer screen.

If the parent has said the child is needle-phobic, the nurse will call the parent before the visit, asking whether to give the shot at the start or end of the visit. The parents say, "Wow! They do care!"

Read another story on a patient-centered medical home.