Healthgrades.com: What’s missing
December 14, 2013First, because healthcare is a hot topic, let me be PERFECTLY clear: I am not an expert on “Obamacare” and do not know whether it will prove, overall, to be a good or a bad thing. My comments here focus solely on a missing piece at healthgrades.com and NOT any legislation.
If you have followed my blog, you know that I am a strong advocate for results-based hiring and results-based management. Many bad hiring decisions have been made because decisions were based on “industry experience” rather than results. Many companies have failed because management was not evaluated or rewarded based on results.
Physicians, too, should be evaluated based on results, and healthgrades.com has an opportunity to help with that. Currently, their review criteria (somewhat edited) are:
- Ease of scheduling urgent appointments
- Office environment
- Staff friendliness
- Total wait time
- Level of trust in doctor’s decisions
- How well doctor explains
- How well provider listens
- Spends an appropriate amount of time
What’s missing? Level of satisfaction with results.
To illustrate my point: Although I do care about how long I have to wait, how good a listener my physician is, etc., my main concern is results. Almost 10 years ago I had a problem with my foot. I saw a well-known orthopedic surgeon/foot specialist. His office was exceptionally well-organized; he did not keep me waiting; he was VERY nice, a VERY good listener, took time to answer my questions, but his recommended solution was a surgery that would have kept me off my feet for 3-6 months. For a second opinion, I saw a different orthopedic surgeon/foot specialist. His office was not as well-organized, and he was gruff, to say the least. Bottom line: He recommended a change in orthotics instead of surgery. Ten years later, I am doing well and have not had to have surgery, thank you very much! As you might imagine, I prefer Dr. Gruff-who-got-results-without-surgery to Dr. Nice! (Of course, the dream doctor is the one who is both nice, etc. AND gets the best results.)
Sometimes, people make decisions–selecting doctors, treatments, etc., based on how they feel rather than on results achieved. If healthgrades.com added “Satisfaction with results” to the list of criteria, it would likely help both physicians and prospective patients focus more on outcomes.
Renee’s Rule™: Results matter.