Darius Tahir, Vineeta Vijayaraghavan, and Jason Hwang provide commentary on the potential impact of physician ratings systems in ADVANCE Web’s “The Politics of Health Care” blog on January 5, 2011.
They conclude: “Beyond the fear and uncertainty that accompany such significant change is the fact that we need a health care system that better aligns the incentives of providers and their patients. Such a system doesn’t simply penalize ineffective doctors, but also rewards good physician performance by steering patients to them. To get there, we must begin rating physicians accurately and make those reports available to patients. Though other hurdles remain, such as building a ratings system that is comprehensible to patients and giving patients appropriate incentives to utilize the ratings information, we are in the midst of making a giant leap toward a high-quality, sustainable health care system.”
