Managed Care - February 2008 - (Page 61) PLAN WATCH Program Lets Patients Rate Doctors Online Regence’s effort gets nod of approval from physician organization because it allows providers to respond By Frank Diamond ere’s what it’s not about: It’s not about quality measurement, and it’s not about pay for performance. That, Jeff Robertson, MD, the executive medical director at Regence, wants to make absolutely clear, as the 3million member health plan prepares to launch a rating program that members can use to find doctors or, more to the point, to find out what other members think about doctors. The program results in part from a Regence survey in which members were asked what information they most wanted the health plan to provide. “Overwhelmingly, what they wanted to know more than anything else was what were the other patients’ experiences,” says Robertson. H “This is really an extension of the backyard fence where people get their information about health care by asking other people about it. ‘Did you go to Dr. Jones? What was he like?’ This is just a 21st century forum.” Questionnaire Regence plans to launch its program in the spring. It will provide an opportunity for members who have submitted a claim to answer an online questionnaire, an abbreviated version of one provided by the Medical Group Management Association. “It’s a 16-point questionnaire about access and service,” says Robertson. “Giving a rating from 1 to 5 on these categories. Then there is kind of an open comment box where a patient could say ‘great service but I had to wait 35 minutes.’ Something like that. It is about the patient experience.” If this sounds familiar, it’s because similar programs by other health plans have gotten a lot of attention of late. In particular, WellPoint’s partnership with Zagat Survey allows members to rank physicians based on trust, communication, availability, and office environment and has been the subject of newspaper articles and op-ed pieces. “Our goal is to make the health care system more transparent,” says WellPoint spokeswoman Cheryl Leamon. Physicians, as you might imagine, are wary since most of this transparency relates to what they do and how well they do it, at least in terms that laymen might understand. James King, MD, president of the American Academy of Family Physicians, laid out his concerns about the WellPoint-Zagat program in a Jan. 17 op-ed in USA Today. “Consumer ratings for many products and services, from hotels to car repairs, provide key insight into the value offered for the price paid,” “Without feedback it’s really hard to improve and most doctors want to be the very best they can,” says Jeff Robertson, MD, the executive medical director at Regence. FEBRUARY 2008 / MANAGED CARE 61
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