Physicians vs. Patient: Rating-Permission Contracts

Interesting post from the WSJ Health Blog on Medical Justice's new ratings-permission contracts (press release on service).This new service offered by Medical Justice appears designed to attempt to control the evolving growth of health care consumer driven rating information provided through companies like RateMDs.com.

According to Medical Justice's CEO the goal is to "regain control of the flow of information." Just more evidence of the dynamic shift we are seeing in the health care industry as a result of some of the health 2.0 initiatives.

New models are being developed to allow patient/consumers to rate, report and compare the quality and cost of health care services. As these services become more widely adopted and used by consumers, traditional health care delivery system models and the perceptions of health care professionals are being challenged.

Note: Don't miss reading the reader comments in the WSJ Blog post.

UPDATE: More from Dr. Val on the potential value of online physician rating. I completely agree with her comment that sometimes all that is available is a "health insurance company's list of in network professionals."