Precept Employee Benefits Blog

Zagat rated.  It is one of the most powerful, influential phrases in the restaurant and hospitality industries.  Reputations are bolstered, prestige rises, and business flourishes as a result of a hotel or dining establishment’s association with Zagat and its mighty rating system.  But can it do for the health industry what it does for the restaurant industry?  One insurance company is attempting to find out.

Starting in January 2008, select participants of Wellpoint’s Blue Cross/Blue Shield plans will launch an online survey tool which will enable participants to rate their physician experiences by utilizing Zagat’s 30-point scale.  While the survey will not tackle the two most important factors in a health-care encounter – quality and cost – it will let their patients rate physicians on elements of trust, communication, availability, and environment.  The main impetus behind the survey seems to revolve around efficiency, in the sense that higher rated experiences will most likely be utilized by would-be patients who are seeking more compact, succinct doctor visits in order to minimize time lost on their busy schedules.  However, there is already a brewing faction of harsh critics toward the ratings system, who says such ratings may cloud or even wholly mask deficiencies in the level of care that would be actually provided.  Ultimately, the detractors are worried that patients may inevitably sacrifice the best care available to them for the sake of shaving off a few extra minutes at the doctor’s office. 

The criticism regarding the concept of Zagat-rated physicians appears to be strongly warranted.  In the wake of the poll that Fidelity Investments conducted earlier this year which re-enforced the notion of ignorance the typical employee has about their benefits, it is quite easy to envision a similar lack of knowledge extending to the medical field itself.  Indeed, one wonders how many people may look at this scale, completely unaware of the important criteria missing from it, and base their health care decision solely on the softened measurements it features.  If the employee happens to be participating in a Consumer Driven Health Plan, this foreboding scenario and its negative ramifications would be magnified even further.  With that being said, it will be interesting to see how Wellpoint attempts to educate their target audience about the chief aspects of individual health care alongside these lesser tangibles.  Hopefully, they will look for ways to emphasize the absolutely vital role quality of care and cost must play in all aspects of health care decision making to its utmost. 

Of course, there is no guarantee that this survey would be embraced by its potential clientele.  People may not embrace the notion of choosing a doctor based on data culled from an organization that is traditionally used to tell them that the filet mignon at Morton’s or Fleming’s is delicious.  This possible mindset could lend itself to a great deal of indifference toward the survey, which is something that Wellpoint understandably would not want to see.  However, given the propensity of the average employee to not be astute in matters of their own healthcare, an apathetic attitude toward the concept of Zagat rated doctors may end up being the best scenario that could occur.  After all, being indifferent towards a product because of unease is a whole lot better than embracing it without being fully clear on its overall concept.