Patients Blind When Health Care Comparison Shopping

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"The patient really has no way to act as an informed consumer," Dr. Smith said. "You can't call up a facility and say, 'By the way, is my doctor any good?' or, 'Tell me who the best one is.' "—A doctor responding to a study that found some doctors were 10 times better than other doctors at discovering precancerous lesions through colonoscopy. [NYT]

“The patient really has no way to act as an informed consumer,” Dr. Smith said. “You can’t call up a facility and say, ‘By the way, is my doctor any good?’ or, ‘Tell me who the best one is.’ “—A doctor responding to a study that found some doctors were 10 times better than other doctors at discovering precancerous lesions through colonoscopy. [NYT]

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