Patients Beginning to Rate Caregivers on Angie's List
Sunday, July 20, 2008
Suzanne Hoholik; The Columbus Dispatch
http://company.angieslist.com/Visitor/News/PressDetail.aspx?i=1185
While searching Angie's List recently for someone to fix her garage door, Dr. Diana Frey decided to type in her own name to see whether any patients had posted reviews about her. She found three ratings, all positive.
"I don't think (Angie's List is) a bad place to find a physician," said Frey, who practices internal medicine on the city's North Side. "It's just another tool where you can look up your doctor and see the comments he gets."
Governments and private health-insurance companies rate hospitals and physicians on the Web, but Angie's List has begun including reviews from patients and customers, who no longer have to limit their opinions about physicians, dentists, hospitals and insurance companies to family and friends. The site allows members to rate them just as they would a plumber, child-care provider or auto mechanic.
Angie Hicks, founder of the 13-year-old consumer rating list based in Indianapolis, said members wanted health providers added because they're spending more money than ever on insurance premiums, co-pays and deductibles. "A lot of consumers find doctors and hospitals based on friends' and family recommendations, and that's in line with what Angie's List provides," she said.
The Web site added 50 health-related categories in the spring, giving members the chance to grade providers on cost, punctuality and professionalism. They also can give details about office visits, surgeries and filling prescriptions. Categories list physicians and dentists by specialties, including cardiology, primary care, pediatric dentistry and orthodontics. Members also can rate urgent-care centers, nursing homes and even medical helicopter companies.
Angie's List charges a one-time $15 sign-up fee, then $7.50 a month or $59 a year in membership fees. There are 650,000 members nationwide, including 30,212 in central Ohio. Government sites are free and available to the public, and health plans limit ratings to customers.
The one Angie's List review of Uptown Pharmacy in Westerville was positive and said the pharmacists there are always helpful. "If you want that personal relationship, an independent pharmacy like ours tends to do that," pharmacist Cara Hoyt said. Most area health-care providers are not listed.
A few have one or two reviews. Hicks said the number will increase with time. It's the single bad posting, however, that worries health-care providers. For example, University Hospital East has one grade, and it's an F. The woman who wrote the entry said doctors and nurses did not provide good care to her husband when he underwent surgery there. "A patient experience doesn't necessarily denote quality at an institution," said Tiffany Himmelreich, spokeswoman for the Ohio Hospital Association. Dr. Hagop Mekhjian, chief medical officer and senior associate vice president at Ohio State University Medical Center, said he hopes the reviews are "done in a way that's not skewed." "A person might be inclined to comment and another person may not," he said.
Hicks said the reports aren't anonymous. Hospitals and other providers can log on for free to respond directly to a patient or customer. They also can sign up to receive e-mail alerts when a review about them is posted. Linda Stoverock, chief nursing officer and senior vice president of patient care at Nationwide Children's Hospital, said that in health care, reputation is everything. "If someone had a bad experience, they're also telling other people, so we're paying attention to it," Stoverock said.