Restaurant ratings firm Zagat, WellPoint rate doctors

I just walked out of a restaurant in Miami Florida rated highly by Zaggat. I hated the food recommended by Zaggat. More importantly, the cost was exhorbitant and the food although served with grace and aplomb tasted boring. What exactly does Zaggat plan to do while evaluating clinics and hospitals. Patients are frankly very happy to wait for even unreasonaby long time to see doctors they like. The doctor's office interior /exterior generally makes little impact on the quality of care. Does it matter if they have a 3 star lavatory in a five star clinical practice? In Medical practice mediocre doctors generally fail or do things outside the scope of their training. This should be the red flag for consumers. Keeping current with board-certification may demonstrate some respect for knowledge but does not always define a high quality service. Patient satisfaction
surveys are a really good measure but right questions must be asked depending on what the doctor
did to the patient. It turns out that the best of doctors may not always be blessed with great bed-side manner ( a exemplified by Dr. House on TV). Outcomes are hardest to measure when it comes to medical care as no two patient problems are alike. It is simpler to look at complications but they rarely measure the usual outcomes of doctors with their difficult cases. I have been intrigued
by HealthGrades and even paid an annual fee to see
what patients write about my own practice. I am grateful that the patients have been generous to me. I do not have any recourse if someone who does not like me wants to write bad reviews. There is too much subjectivity. Should we just leave it to market place economics with the governemnt regulating who is qualified to practice and perform certain aspects and procedures of the medical profession? The biggest headache would surprisingly come from EMRs where any bozo can be made to look competent with lengthy and irrelvant documentation. If you don't believe me ask for you recent ED visit note...By the way did any of these evaluators visit
the ASCs in New Jersy? I wish they paid a vist to the Attorney General's office first...

Why should any physician be concerned about ratings. Doctors are not rated on office environment or "three star lavatories". but by communications-skill-knowledge-availability. Let's face it some do not have any of the above.