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2008 Health Care Conference: Frontiers of Health Care

Wednesday, November 12, 2008, 8:00 a.m. - 11:30 a.m., Hyatt Vineyard Creek Hotel & Spa, Santa Rosa

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Blue Cross offers physician rating

PILOT WEB PROGRAM USES ZAGAT SURVEY TO RANK SATISFACTION

CALIFORNIA – Blue Cross of California wants its policyholders to know that their opinions about their doctors count.

Within a year, the company hopes all consumers will be able to rate their doctors through Zagat Survey, a company commonly associated with restaurant and music reviews.

The tool is currently only available to members with the consumer-driven Lumenos health plan in the Los Angeles area, but the offering will be rolled out to all policyholders in intervals from now until an expected finish date early in 2009.

“When we decided to go with the survey, we were trying to find the best way consumers could learn more about the experience of being in a certain doctor’s office,” said Medical Director Dr. Kurt Tamaru. “Choosing a doctor a lot of times is about more than the quality of care. One customer might prefer an extremely professional environment, while another might want a more relaxed atmosphere. We believe the survey best serves this purpose and can reduce the occurrence of mismatches.”

The survey rates the doctor in four areas on a 30-point scale – trust, communication, availability and environment. Survey participants can also leave comments and answer whether or not they would recommend the physician, which is then posted alongside the numerical results and visible on the Web once a doctor receives at least 10 surveys.

Northern California Blue Cross spokesman Nick Garcia said the company is using the Los Angeles division as a sort of pilot program so kinks can be worked out on a smaller scale. Officials are working with providers and consumers to perfect the product for the statewide roll-out.

“Already, physicians have told us they would like access to the results. And that is one change we know we want to make,” Mr. Garcia said.

Ventura County will be the next to access the tool, which can be used through the Blue Cross Web site with the customer’s policy number.

Other companies such as DrScore.com and RateMDs.com provide similar ratings, but Mr. Tamaru said the Blue Cross version will be more applicable because it uses a uniform set of standards.