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The popularity of consumer websites like http://www.RateMDs.com suggests word of mouth still rules when it comes to choosing a doctor.
But one person's favorite can be another's flop, and there's no way to verify the credibility or truth of patient reviews.
Some insurance companies have taken matters into their own hands, publishing ratings of in-network providers by verified patients. One of Utah's largest insurers has gone a step further, adding nationally endorsed quality scores to the mix — bringing an element of science to the subjective.
"We wanted to lead out with a website that's as objective as possible," said Stephen Barlow, chief medical officer at SelectHealth.
The online tool has patient satisfaction and performance scores on 600 family practitioners and clinics, about 75 percent of SelectHealth's primary care providers. Hospitals and specialist ratings will come later, said Barlow. Unlike most insurer-owned portals, which are for members only, this one is public.
But like the others, it gets marginal traffic, about 350 hits a week. Another limitation: The site doesn't allow side-by-side comparisons of doctors or welcome user comments.
"Our research showed consumers weren't likely to go to the site and say, 'Who scores the highest?'" said Barlow. "They were more inclined to want to validate the reputation of a doctor referred to them by a friend, neighbor or relative."
Consumers type in the name of a doctor and a listing pops up with the provider's photo, office hours, degrees, board certifications and affiliated hospitals.
Under "Customer satisfaction," patient scores show how clinics do on 12 measures, including wait times, cleanliness and the skills, care and concern of physicians.
"Clinic performance ratings" take some work to understand. Based on benchmarks created by the National Committee for Quality Assurance in Washington, D.C., they measure outcomes for patients with common ailments such as diabetes, asthma and high cholesterol.
Clinics are judged, for example, on the percentage of their appropriately medicated asthma patients.
"They look at things like, are they taking their steroids, and, were they in the emergency room or urgent care sometime over the last six to 12 months?" explained Mark Briesacher, a pediatrician at Intermountain Holladay Pediatrics. "All of those things the health plan can see based on patient claims."
Briesacher's clinic boasts favorable marks, an overall patient satisfaction score of 4.7 on a scale of 1 to 5. The average score for comparable clinics is 4.43.
He admits to being a little "uncomfortable" at first about the public airing of those scores. But he saysSelectHealth gave providers ample warning and a chance to improve.
There remains great variation among clinics. In the spirit of fostering competition, the insurer has long shared quarterly patient-survey results with its providers.
"If we're down on asthma controllers, we can explore, why isn't this family taking their medicine? Did the child get better or are they having trouble affording it?" said Briesacher. "Were it not for this feedback, we wouldn't necessarily know there was a problem."
Doctors have traditionally questioned whether data can help them do their jobs better.
But by slowly building trust with providers through regular patient feedback,SelectHealth has made Brie-sacher a believer in the maxim, "You can't improve what you don't measure."
What providers are rated on
Depending on the measure, patients' scores of SelectHealth providers range from 2.94 to 4.98 on a five-point scale. Patients were asked to rate the following:
Overall experience
Care and concern shown by the physician and nursing staff
Skills and knowledge of the physician and nursing staff
Cleanliness of the clinic
Helpfulness of the receptionist
Ease in getting an appointment
Promptness of service
O Test drive the Web tool at http://www.selecthealth.org/findadoctor.