WellPoint Launches Doctor-Rating Tool in Los Angeles, Other Areas
On Tuesday, WellPoint announced that its new online doctor-rating service is available to members in Los Angeles, Connecticut and greater Cincinnati and Dayton, Ohio, the Indianapolis Star reports. The tool was created through a partnership with Zagat Survey (Spalding, Indianapolis Star, 1/9).
Patients enrolled in WellPoint's Lumenos consumer-driven health plans will be able to evaluate physicians based on:
- Trust;
- Communication;
- Environment; and
- Availability (Spalding, Indianapolis Star, 1/9).
Members will rate physicians on a scale of zero to three, with zero being "poor" and three being "excellent." Ratings will not be displayed until a doctor gets 10 member responses.
Members also can submit comments through the system (Levick, Hartford Courant, 1/9).
Health care professionals who have contracted with WellPoint's network -- including physicians, chiropractors, audiologists, optometrists, speech therapists and podiatrists -- will be included in the online ratings, according to WellPoint spokesperson Cheryl Leamon (New York Daily News, 1/9).
The locations were selected to be the first to receive the online rating tool because of their familiarity with Zagat, large number of WellPoint members and the fact that customers in those three states already use WellPoint's care-comparison tool, which provides costs for specific medical procedures, WellPoint spokesperson Jill Becher said (Indianapolis Star, 1/9).
WellPoint officials expect the tool to be available to all of the 1.5 million members in the pilot areas by the end of March. The program is slated for a nationwide expansion in the next few years (Hartford Courant, 1/9). This is part of the California Healthline Daily Edition, a summary of health policy coverage from major news organizations. Sign up for an email subscription.