(2007-10-23) Zagat Wellpoint Doctor Ratings

Zagat and Well Point will provide ratings (Reputation Management) for doctors. Other insurers, including Aetna, survey patients about physicians in their networks, posting the results online for members. A few commercial websites, such as Revolution Health and RateMDs .com, offer the public an opportunity to rate doctors. But Well Point is the largest insurer to partner with such a well-known survey firm as Zagat... Another type of doctor ranking, in which insurers use claims data and other methods to evaluate doctors on cost and quality, has led to lawsuits from doctor groups and warnings to insurers from New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo, who says the ranking efforts may be misleading or designed to steer patients mainly on cost. But this rating makes no attempt to evaluate actual quality (Medical Error)?!?