SHOULD DOCTORS BE RATED?

I have been having many discussions with people about the future of medicine lately. A topic, often controversial, that continues to come up is that of rating systems for doctors. As the costs of medicine rise both on the individual and the system, and patient satisfaction across the board is declining, the debate is not only legitimate but I believe absolutely necessary.

Essentially at the core of the debate is the question of whether medicine should be treated like any other consumer service or product. If I am interested in a digital camera, I can search the Canon Powershot S5 on BIZRATE.com and see that a reviewer gave it 5/5 on battery life, features, and picture quality. After a lengthy joy-filled approval of the camera, the reviewer states his grievance: "Although the battery life is really good, I wish it would tell me a little sooner that the batteries are going dead." I can see this same sort of set up for a doctor-rating site: John Doe wants a new primary care doctor, so he checks out the rating site and finds a 9.6 overall rating and reads that the doctor is great at coordinating his prescriptions so that the cost to the patient is the lowest! He is satisfied and is just about to schedule an appointment, when he reads that one patient complained that during a pelvic exam the doctor left the room to answer a page and left the door wide open with her in the stirrups. Uh-oh, maybe this is not the type of doctor John was looking for.... NEXT. Do patients (consumers) have the right to be able to check out a reliable source for physician ratings like this? Many believe so. Some, however, are staunchly fighting what they believe is a slippery slope to bargain, untrustworthy, doctor-shopping.

I do not have the perfect answer to this debate, nor does anyone right now. What I do know is that whether we like it or not, doctor-rating is coming. All the way back in October, the WSJ Health Blog wrote about Zagat's new system for patients of particular health plans to rate their experience with their doctor.

As a future doctor, I know medicine will change drastically by the time I am practicing. The rising concept of patient-consumer education, choice, and freedom will not simply vanish because of the uncompromising resistance of lobby groups. There are endless issues and challenges that we will need to approach clear-minded, and logically. That thought brings me back to the reason that we founded the MSBA, to empower ourselves as future doctors with knowledge of important issues related to the business of practicing medicine.