Angie does doctors
Posted on April 3rd, 2008 – 4:54 PMBy Josephine Marcotty
Her story is famous. She was the Columbus homemaker with the Harvard MBA who went door knocking to recruit members for her word-of-mouth referral list of best and worst home improvement contractors.
Today Angie Hicks’ list is known all over the country as Angie’s List. It now includes ratings of accountants, hair dressers and many other businesses. (Full disclosure: I’m a member. I’ve used it to find roofers, dogwalkers and floor refinshers.) She told me on the phone that she remembers that door knocking experience “as more of a character building experience than a sales experience.”
Now she’s adding a whole new category — doctors, hospitals, dentists, pharmacists and other health care providers. Somehow I’m not sure that I want to choose the people who might hold my daughter’s life in their hands the same way I choose my dogwalker. But Hicks is resolute in her faith that consumers are the best choice to help other consumers find their way through the health care jungle.
“Consumers are very capable of evaluating their medical care and giving valuable information,” she said.
Still, would you choose a cardiologist or pediatric orthopedic surgeon from the list? Would you pan a doctor or clinic on the basis of one bad experience?
2 Responses to "Angie does doctors"
I wouldn’t use a list like this to choose a doctor. The healthcare organization I work for participates in carol.com-type surveys and the annual CAHPS, in addition to our own patient surveys. These surveys contain thoughtfully worded, standardized questions designed to ellicit useable information. I think Angie’s List would end up being the same as consumer comments you read on the Internet - some people will complain no matter what, some will have unrealistic expectations, and the concept of “what makes a good doctor” will vary from person to person.
In response to the question about using Angie’s List for medical personnel,
in one simple answer, NO! Here are my reasons why…
1) A patient might think the Dr, etc might have a great bedside personality
but do they really know how well the medical staff can do their job? No,
only the nurses and other colleagues would know that from working with the
person on a daily basis. Case in point. There was a very well known surgeon
at a local hospital that used to throw temper tantrums (as well as surgical
instruments) on a frequent basis during surgeries. Did the patient’s fare
well from these surgeries? Probably, but the staff that had to endure this
abuse probably weren’t able to do their jobs as well, not knowing when
another bomb would explode.
2) If you want medical suggestions, ask a nurse for suggestions. They get
feedback all the time about staff and when looking at the scale of who is
the most trustworthy profession, nurses are near the top.
3) I wouldn’t use Angie’s List again because of personal experiences. We
needed remodeling done, I paid for Angie’s list, got numerous “A” rated
contractor’s names and numbers. After having 5 different contractors out,
we went with the one we felt most comfortable with, and who stated that he
was so known that he was an “expert witness” in his field when testifying
in court. This company bragged about how all their work would be perfect.
Not so, I often had to point out areas that weren’t done well, they gave us
an inital quote and then the bill became 3 times the amount. After the work
was done they told us that if we wrote a favorable review to Angie’s List
that they would send us a $50 voucher at a restaurant. We are on a tight
budget and a nice dinner somewhere would have been great but we have higher
scruples than that company.
I still say, buyer beware.
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