Angie's List to rate doctors, other medical practitioners
Thursday, March 27, 2008
By Diane Suchetka; The Plain Dealer
Thursday, March 27, 2008
A company that offers critiques of plumbers, roofers, landscapers and car mechanics - so the rest of us don't get stuck with duds - is about to get a little more personal. Beginning this month, Angie's List will rate doctors, too.
That means Cleveland-area members, who pay $59 a year for the service, can read other patients' reviews of family doctors, surgeons, neurologists, cardiologists, plastic surgeons and more. Also on the list: chiropractors, dentists, pharmacists, nursing homes, urgent care centers and hospitals. "This is probably one of the more common things customers have been asking us for over the years," founder Angie Hicks said in a phone interview this week.
Angie's List started in Columbus and is now based in Indianapolis, Ind. It has chapters in 124 cities. Now, with a couple of computer clicks - or a phone call - Angie's List customers can see if area doctors earned A's or F's in categories such as office cleanliness, wait times and how well they listen.
The ratings for 55 new health-care categories will work the same way they do for 280 other categories of service. An Angie's List member hires a company, then grades it - A through F - in a number of areas such as price, quality and responsiveness. Members also write reviews, detailing exactly what they liked or didn't like. Those reviews, Hicks says, are the real advantage, especially in critiquing doctors. "You need a doctor that you can be comfortable with," she said. "Some want no-nonsense. Some want a hand-holder. You can get that feel through those reports." What members aren't asked to comment on is a doctor's education or other professional qualifications -- medical standards that many patients aren't equipped to evaluate. Hicks says an Angie's List link to state medical board Web sites will take care of that.
In Ohio, medical board information includes which doctors are licensed to practice here, disciplinary action taken against them and where they went to medical school. Dr. Michael Roizen likes the idea of consumers rating doctors. He's the Cleveland Clinic's chief wellness officer and co-author of a number of books, including "You: The Smart Patient. An Insider's Handbook for Getting the Best Treatment." "The negative is that it doesn't tell us anything about the quality of the medical care -- Is the physician using the right drugs? Is he making sure that you don't have an allergic reaction? "It may make the office staff and the physician more aware that these things matter. So that's the benefit."