Do You Know How Good Your Doctor (Surgeon) Is? [INFOGRAPHIC]

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Like it or not, healthcare is a business. While you may think that patient satisfaction is the best gauge of a doctor’s abilities, statistics show a negative correlation between patient satisfaction and patient outcomes. That is to say, the happier you are with your doctor the more likely you are to suffer negative consequences.

Doctors who are trying to satisfy patients tend to overprescribe medications, order unnecessary tests, and do other things to appease patient wants instead of treating their medical needs. This can lead to huge expenditures on prescriptions and tests, which in turn opens the door for future compounding of medical problems and more expenditures down the road.

There is a better way to judge a doctor’s abilities. Thanks to decades of data collection and new ways to analyze massive amounts of data, we can see an empirical picture of each medical provider and his or her outcomes. There is plenty of data out there about complications, readmissions, infections, and other post-treatment issues. When all the data is combined it can paint a picture of a particular doctor in a way a Yelp! Review just can’t.

This is important not only from a health standpoint- although preventing complications now is the surest way to prevent complications in the future. Ensuring you are going to the best doctor and receiving the best possible health outcome is also crucial to your health care expenditures in the long run.

Proper data analysis helps doctors, as well. Remember those positive reviews that don’t tend to lead to better health outcomes? Empirical data might steer patients to a good doctor with a poor bedside manner, ensuring a better health outcome for the patient and a more fair businesses assessment for the doctor. Learn more about how big data is being used to create meaningful scores for doctors from this infographic!

Do You Know How Good Your Doctor (Surgeon) Is?

Do You Know How Good Your Doctor - Surgeon Is Infographic

Infographic source: Mpirica

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