Zagat Guide to Doctor’s Offices
Hey, you had to know that this was coming. Zagat, which publishes the pocket-sized burgundy-colored restaurant review guidebooks, is partnering with WellPoint to do an online survey that will allow patients to rate their doctors. How they feel about their doctor’s office environment will be queried, as well as things like trust, communication, and availability.
Zagat’s logo, which proclaims “Eat, Drink, Stay, Play,” will have to be changed to “Eat, Drink, Stay, Play, Heal.” Is the next step for them a survey of how patients rate hospitals based on the same criteria? Might not be a bad idea.
As I wrote about on this blog back in July, about 15 years ago, The Center’s president and I went to Washington, D.C., to visit the editors of U.S. News & World Report to talk to them about their annual “Best Hospitals” survey. We told them about our work and asked them why they didn’t include the quality of the built environment in their ratings. They agreed that it would make sense, but explained to us that their ratings are based on data that is already available, with the exception of the survey they send to physicians to rate hospitals based on their reputation for excellence.
They told us that if we brought them the data, they would include it. Well, that started us down the path of finding out how much evidence-based design research there was out there for healthcare (a path which we are still on today) and establishing a research agenda for the industry. But we never collected any raw data on patients (or physician’s) perceptions of the built environment of the hospitals they like.
As far as I know, no one has done this in any kind of meaningful depth. Press Ganey and Arbor may include a few questions about it on some of their surveys, but not enough to be conclusive. So, Zagat, here’s your opportunity! All you need is a partner…