The Wild Doctor Chase
Check this out! Doctors are now being rated like food at one insurance company in the US. Zagat Survey, an entity that produces authoritative restaurant guides, makes this possible for WellPoint. Parameters other than the doctor’s competency, skills and bedside manners are being used here–trust, communication, availability and environment. Subjectivity is a clear disadvantage. Validity is another one. So how do patients make sure that doctors who’d get the high ratings would really be those who are OK. A little control on the patients is good. When this determines the whole patient-doctor encounter and assures patients of good treatment outcomes, this is the way to go. But when it presents too many options as for the patients to be confused, we might be missing out on the real score–can your doctor treat you or not? Science can help answer this but the human side of medicine always leaves something for the patient to think about. Though doctors and food are not an apple-to-apple comparison as far as their attributes are concerned, the simple lesson is evident: doctors must persevere not only to further their skills but also to broaden their relationship horizons.
