Consumer checkbook best doctors how to#
But Checkbook provides complete transparency and guidance about how to assess those ratings compared with companies with more users. Caveats: We found little to fault here, except that in some cases a business rating may be based on as few as 10 users.Subscribers access detailed ratings online and in a biannual print magazine covering their metropolitan area. (Consumer Reports gave CSS $25,000 in matching funds to get started in the mid-1970s and has allowed Checkbook to survey its subscribers in the seven metro areas it covers.)ĬSS' own research includes conducting undercover price shopping and gathering complaint data from regulators (such as the state attorney general's office) and the Better Business Bureau.
How it works: Local companies are involuntarily rated by the Center for the Study of Services, based on surveys of Consumers' Checkbook's own subscribers, Consumer Reports subscribers, and CSS' own research.
But company investment disclosures say that "we cannot guarantee the accuracy of our reviews." Angie's List tells consumers that it provides "reviews you can trust," and takes steps to detect and remove fraudulent positive and negative reviews. But almost 70 percent of the company's revenues come from advertising purchased by the service providers being rated. But experts who study survey techniques say that can create a bias for positive reviews.Īngie's List misleads consumers by prominently promising that "businesses don't pay" and that it's a consumer-driven service supported by membership fees. But Angie's List marketing materials intended for businesses say that companies that advertise get "an advantage of increased exposure" that "can propel you ahead of your competition." They get 12 times more profile views than companies that don't buy ads.Īngie's List encourages businesses to solicit reviews by giving customers free, postage-paid forms, stickers on thank you notes, and Web links embedded in e-mail invoices. Cheryl Reed, a spokeswoman for the company, disagrees.
Consumer checkbook best doctors free#
How it works: Companies set up free online profiles or involuntarily get one when a member rates them.Cost for consumers: Varies $46 a year in San Francisco."synopsis" may belong to another edition of this title. The book is a special publication of Consumers' CHECKBOOK, a nonprofit research organization widely respected for over 30 years for producing consumer-oriented evaluations and ratings of doctors, ratings of hospitals, ratings of health plans, and ratings of other health care providers. In this book, you get the doctor ratings you need to choose the right doctors. In short, choice of the wrong doctor can result in needless suffering, or even death. By choosing the wrong doctor, you might also miss out on a treatment that could cure a disease or repair an injury, or you might get the treatment you need but have it performed so badly that it does you no good. Doctor-to-doctor quality differences mean that choosing the wrong doctor might expose you to surgery, powerful drugs, or other treatments that will do you no good, might do you lasting harm, and will certainly contribute to discomfort and inconvenience. Other studies have made similar findings.
A New York State study of heart bypass surgery death rates revealed that some doctors who did large numbers of these surgeries had more than three times the death rates other doctors had. Some doctors are much better rated than others. Find doctor ratings that will lead you to those who will be best for your health.
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