Healthgrades Epic Fail

In selecting a new doctor, many check like to check them out online at rating sites such as Healthgrades.com. The more satisfied the patients, the better the doctor, right? Well, it ain't necessarily so. Check out the case of a Texas neurosurgeon.

... The article chronicles how a neurosurgeon in Texas permanently injured and likely even killed multiple patients during surgery and how the Texas Medical Board failed to timely respond to complaints that were raised. As a result, the neurosurgeon, Christopher Duntsch, continued operating on patients and patients continued having bad outcomes from his surgeries. 

This does not sound like a doctor I'd want to see or refer folks to, does it? Well, according to Healthgrades (until they scrubbed his profile,) this was a highly rated doctor.

... the same doctor who was reported to have caused the deaths of several patients and who reportedly permanently injured multiple other patients was rated as a 4.3 out of 5 in patient satisfaction. Dr. Duntsch rated above the national average in every one of Healthgrades’ patient satisfaction survey details except the total wait time in exam rooms – where he rated the same as the national average.

Now Healthgrades.com has decided to remove all of the satisfaction information from Dr. Duntsch’s profile, so all you’ll see is a bunch of blanks on his ratings page. But I got a screen grab of the ratings before Healthgrades erased them.

While patient satisfaction is important, high ratings are not equivalent to high quality care. As the author of the Whitecoat piece demonstrates, this doctors' patients thought highly of him until they woke up dead. The author goes further:

In fact, Healthgrades.com has many complaints about the accuracy and validity of its ratings. It is rated at the lowest score by 88% of all people giving it a rating onConsumerAffairs.com. I had one reader write me about how Healthgrades.com published that he was still seeing patients when he has been retired for 10 years, how Healthgrades published his home phone number, and how patients call his home phone number at all hours of the day and night, then yell at him because he is retired.

When physicians complain about such sites, what is the response? Press Ganey CEO Patrick Ryan suggests physicians "Suck It Up." Oh and did I mention that Healthgrades CEO Roger Holstein is a member of the Board of Press Ganey?

Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?