Idea: hospital/physician rating system based on a "secret shopper" system of randomly assigned patients.
One of the big problems with physician ratings systems is that there's no uniform system for calibrating for the difficulty of the case.
For example, a physician who only took the hardest cases might have a mediocre score if they were rated solely on patient outcomes. Even if they're an outstanding physician, more of their patients might die due to the severity of their case. Whereas a physician who cherry picked "easy" cases might have a great score, even if they're a crappy physician.
This system attempts to solve this problem by having other physicians rate the severity of the case before treatment.
Doctors who sign up to be rated would agree to fill out a form for every patient that comes through their doors that rates the severity of their illness (before treatment). (They rate every patient so that it would be impossible to find out who their "secret shopper" patients are by a process of elimination. )
Patients selected for the program would then go to four doctors for diagnosis.
Three of the doctor's case severity ratings would be averaged used to establish the baseline for the difficulty of the case.
The fourth doctor would be the one selected to actually treat the patient. The patient would then secretly rate the doctor as well, for things like communication, bedside manner, etc. Some patients could also be selected for post-treatment ratings, and long-term outcomes.
Patient outcome ratings could then be scaled up or down by the case difficulty scores.
Most doctors would sign up because they believe they're highly capable people, and could use their scores in advertising. Also, once established, it would be difficult for incompetent doctors to opt out, since not having a score at all would also be seen as a sign of bad performance.
Hospitals would sign up because they want to identify their underperforming doctors, improve their performance, and/or avoid hiring them in the first place.
One of the big problems with physician ratings systems is that there's no uniform system for calibrating for the difficulty of the case.
For example, a physician who only took the hardest cases might have a mediocre score if they were rated solely on patient outcomes. Even if they're an outstanding physician, more of their patients might die due to the severity of their case. Whereas a physician who cherry picked "easy" cases might have a great score, even if they're a crappy physician.
This system attempts to solve this problem by having other physicians rate the severity of the case before treatment.
Doctors who sign up to be rated would agree to fill out a form for every patient that comes through their doors that rates the severity of their illness (before treatment). (They rate every patient so that it would be impossible to find out who their "secret shopper" patients are by a process of elimination. )
Patients selected for the program would then go to four doctors for diagnosis.
Three of the doctor's case severity ratings would be averaged used to establish the baseline for the difficulty of the case.
The fourth doctor would be the one selected to actually treat the patient. The patient would then secretly rate the doctor as well, for things like communication, bedside manner, etc. Some patients could also be selected for post-treatment ratings, and long-term outcomes.
Patient outcome ratings could then be scaled up or down by the case difficulty scores.
Most doctors would sign up because they believe they're highly capable people, and could use their scores in advertising. Also, once established, it would be difficult for incompetent doctors to opt out, since not having a score at all would also be seen as a sign of bad performance.
Hospitals would sign up because they want to identify their underperforming doctors, improve their performance, and/or avoid hiring them in the first place.