Profession
Rating physician quality
■ An occasional snapshot of current facts and trends in medicine.
Quick View. Posted May 7, 2007
Ratings of doctors' performance on quality, efficiency and patient satisfaction measures aren't always accurate.
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Experts estimate that there is at least 5% inaccuracy in these performance measures. And the ratings do not inform patients of these potential errors in the metrics.
While physicians may be bothered by this, patients generally aren't, says Matthew Davis, MD, senior health researcher at the Center for Studying Health System Change. A recent survey of 1,057 adults showed general tolerance, even when survey respondents were told, for example, that a 20% inaccuracy would misclassify 20 of every 100 doctors in a high-performing/low-performing physician rating system. Here are the percentages of patients who said they were willing to accept data with these inaccuracies.
Note: Figures may not add up to 100% due to rounding.
Source: "Consumer Tolerance for Inaccuracy in Physician Performance Ratings: One Size Fits None," Issue Brief No. 110, March, Center for Studying Health System Change
