Medicine for People!

Mid-September 2005

Contents

On-Line Evaluations of Physicians

When you buy a shirt, or a pineapple, you can turn it over in your hand to check the quality before spending your money. With physician services, you must commit to paying first; only then do you discover if you made a good buy or not. How do you discover where to spend your medical dollar? In a small town such as Port Townsend, you can ask your friends about local physicians. With out-of-town specialists, such information is more difficult to obtain. I may tell you that Dr Blank answered all my questions well, but sometimes you tell me later that Dr Blank behaved very differently with you.

Often I have wished there were some on-line service for people to trade stories of doctors both good and bad, to avoid these problems. A recent article in the Wall Street Journal (no longer available online) caught my attention. It tells how online services have appeared to meet this need, and how they have been resisted by doctors.

This site http://ratemds.com/index.jsp lists consumer reviews of more physicians than other sites do, allows you to check credentials for $20, and connects with a site that, again for a fee, lists the physicians rated most highly by their peers.

Finally, here's your chance to share your observations on specialists whom you have consulted. It's easy to do.

CJK April 6, 2006

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Medicine for People! is published by Douwe Rienstra, MD at Port Townsend, Washington. Edited by Carolyn Latteier.

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