Physician Concerns About Zagat Survey Ratings Unwarranted, Editorial States
An agreement between WellPoint and Zagat Survey under which patients have begun to post reviews of their physicians and rate them in four categories "has some doctors in a tizzy," as they "insist that patients are in no position to judge which doctors are best and that some patients may respond to glib charm rather than professional competence," a New York Times editorial states. According to the editorial, that "sounds much like the complaints we heard when students started rating their professors, yet many universities now factor student judgments into their evaluations of the faculty," and "makes us suspect that the doctors complaining aren't the ones who welcome their own patients' constructive complaints."
"Who knows better than patients whether they have confidence" in a physician, "like his or her bedside manner," find "it easy or hard to make appointments," are "dealt with on time or kept waiting for hours" or "find the staff helpful," the editorial states. The editorial adds, "These are the kinds of items covered in the Zagat/WellPoint survey, not anything to do with the quality of medical care provided." However, according to the editorial, a "missing ingredient is Zagat's pithy and witty summaries of the comments, a hallmark of its restaurant reviews," as "WellPoint subscribers, the only ones who can view the comments, are not apt to learn that a doctor's 'icy hands' and 'crowded waiting room' made the examination 'a downer'" (New York Times, 2/18).
