Checking up online

Patients use the Web to pick and review medical care; doctors adapt

Danny Brooks has more experience than most in finding a doctor.

His wife, Linda, has fibromyalgia, which causes such serious chronic pain that physicians regularly turn her away, uncomfortable with the high doses of medicine she takes.

So Brooks turns again and again to the Internet to search for doctors or research the recommendations he receives from friends and strangers.

"There's not too much you can't find out nowadays if you know how to work online," said Brooks, 38, a computer programmer who lives in Davidson.

Not so long ago, a patient might have asked co-workers over the cubicle wall and neighbors at the backyard fence for suggestions on which doctor to call for an appointment.

It's not that simple anymore.

People still ask advice from others in their communities, but many then turn to the Internet to research the suggested physician. Even soliciting recommendations plays out on online message boards and sites that allow people to review doctors.

The Internet is permeating nearly every aspect of daily life, and doctor-shopping is no exception. Nearly a third of the people who surf the Web use it to research doctors or hospitals, according to the Pew Internet & American Life Project, which explores the Internet's effect on families, communities, work and home. That's up from about one in five in 2002.

"Individuals are used to being sort of savvy online investigators for important decisions such as researching new cars or buying a house," said Scott Shapiro, spokesman for HealthGrades, which says 3 million people visit its site to choose a health-care provider each month.

"People understand that there's a tremendous amount of information out there on the Web to help them make a decision."

With millions of U.S. workers heading into the traditional open-enrollment season -- fall is typically when employers allow workers to select insurance coverage for the coming year -- many will use online resources to research providers.

More doctors recognize the trend and are trying to make sure they have a positive presence online.

The Internet is making for better-informed patients, but consumers need to consider the sources of what they read on the Web.

Some sites allow doctors to pay for prominent listings or respond to unfavorable reviews. What's more, many doctor reviews skew to the really good and really bad, leading to unbalanced perspectives on some doctors.

Brooks uses the Web to look up prospective doctors' disciplinary records, where they went to school, their locations and ages -- he doesn't want to start a relationship with a doctor who's probably going to retire soon, he said.

Through an online support group for chronic pain, he found Alan Spanos, a Chapel Hill pain specialist whom he recently gave a 5-star review on Vimo.com. Though Brooks reads patient reviews, he said they are only part of his decision-making.

"I treat it like a movie review," Brooks said. "Some people might have a really bad experience with a doctor who, for my wife's situation, might end up being the best doctor in the country."

As demand from patients such as Brooks surges, entrepreneurs are seeing opportunity, offering Web pages that provide information about individual physicians. DrScore, Vimo, RateMDs and other sites let patients vent or praise doctors. Others specialize in the objective aspects of a doctor's background: training, board certification, licensing and services.

Google reportedly is preparing to enter the fray. According to The New York Times, the search engine giant is developing a health portal that would include directories of nearby doctors.