Good online resource for finding a doctor?

June 3, 2007 1:57 PM

Is there a good online resource for finding a doctor?

I'm looking for a doctor in the San Fernando Valley and while I've considered asking friends for recommendations, I'd like to get some higher-quality data if possible. Is there a site that has, along with patient reviews, information mined from the AMA, like commendations or complaints? Ideally I'd like to type in my zip code and insurance company and get back a list of doctors with some kind of intelligently weighted ranking. Does such a thing exist? I've seen vimo.com and a few other places, but they're all kind of lousy.

posted by symbebekos to Health & Fitness (7 answers total)

The AMA has actively fought this kind of thing. The reasoning is that if someone is licensed to be a doctor, then they are qualified to provide you with excellent care.

I disagree, but that's my opinion. I found this out from a friend of mine explored the feasibility of starting a similar site awhile back. He met much resistance.
posted by AaRdVarK at 2:01 PM on June 3, 2007

Best answer: You can get some useful information from the Medical Board of California. If you go to this page from the Medical Board, you can get some good starting points: has the doctor ever had any license discipline? Where did they get their MD? If they're an MD, you may also be able to get some info about their board certifications, if any, from the ABMS (American Board of Medical Specialties), but I'm not sure how much they make public for free these days.

Some states make more information available than others, and a lot of other stuff is out there, but not available to the general public.
posted by dilettante at 2:32 PM on June 3, 2007

Well, there's HealthGrades, but I can't vouch for whether it's good or not.
posted by rolypolyman at 2:35 PM on June 3, 2007

I should clarify: the links I have are good for checking up a little once you have names.
posted by dilettante at 3:00 PM on June 3, 2007

Well, it depends on what kind of doc you're looking for. PsychToday has, what I think, is a great listing of shrinks that includes information about their specialties (couples, children, glbt, etc), and allows the doctors to post 'personal statements'. It's really, really great.

Other big medical societies have similar things (ACOG, etc.) So you can check there.

HealthGrades is a pay site.

You could also look on citysearch and similar sites. Yes, it's more about restaurants, but sometimes doctors are reviewed too.

Really though, friends and co-workers are likely your best source of information for recommendations.
posted by misanthropicsarah at 5:33 PM on June 3, 2007

Best answer: AMA Doctor finder might be helpful.
posted by selfmedicating at 7:15 PM on June 3, 2007

You want to look for a board-certified physician, or one who has just come out of training (in some cases it may take a year or two to attain boarded status). Other than that, where someone trained often has nothing to do with their practice, certainly which medical school is almost meaningless, and the particular residency won't mean much to the lay-person. Also be careful about judging someone who has a malpractice action against them. Anyone can sue anyone for anything, and often insurance companies prefer to settle rather than battle things out in court (too expensive).

Good luck, even as a physician the only way I know of to find a 'good' doctor is personal recommendation...
posted by objdoc at 5:21 AM on June 4, 2007