check your doctor's vitals before they check yours

[xchrom]

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_MED_HEALTHBEAT_CHOOSING_A_DOCTOR?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2014-07-21-03-24-55



WASHINGTON (AP) -- Americans consider insurance and a good bedside manner in choosing a doctor, but will that doctor provide high-quality care? A new poll shows that people don't know how to determine that.

Being licensed and likable doesn't necessarily mean a doctor is up to date on best practices. But consumers aren't sure how to uncover much more. Just 22 percent of those questioned are confident they can find information to compare the quality of local doctors, according to the poll by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research.

Today, 6 in 10 people say they trust doctor recommendations from friends or family, and nearly half value referrals from their regular physician. The poll found far fewer trust quality information from online patient reviews, health insurers, ratings web sites, the media, even the government.

"I usually go on references from somebody else, because it's hard to track them any other way," said Kenneth Murks, 58, of Lexington, Alabama. His mother suggested a bone and joint specialist after a car accident.

[Smarmie Doofus]

1. This is in the "be careful what you wish for" category.

Many areas of human endeavor are not easily quantifiable.

For the most part, this is one.

If we start ranking docs based on "recovery rates".... for instance... aren't docs going to start self-selecting patients?

Obvious consequence: more problematic cases get outsourced to ERs... or whatever..... and "highly rated" docs restrict their practice to people w. head colds.

If I were a doc... I'd want to be rated as "highly effective".

We should think..... *really* think..... this ALL THE WAY THROUGH before starting down this path.

[Squinch]

2. Very good point. Treatment outcomes are a better measure, but even those can be grossly

misused as doctors game the data and treatments that work for some but not most are abandoned.

[surrealAmerican]

3. Yup, just like education ...

... it will leave the sickest patients to be treated by the least qualified physicians.

"Outcomes" depend on more than the skill and knowledge of the doctors.