Feb 17 2009
Zagat to partner with WellPoint for physician reviews
A doctor guide! Very interesting! Zagat guides will now partner with WellPoint for a review of doctors! Today members of the insurance company WellPoint can view reviews as postings by other members.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/16/business/media/16zagat.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=zagat&st=cse
The Zagat-WellPoint venture was launched in California, Connecticut and North Carolina. We all recognize the name Blue Cross of California, a unit of WellPoint. Not all Blue Cross Blue Shield are WellPoint but all can access the Zagat reviews. The Zagat reviews are not yet available for New York’s Empire Blue Cross Blue Shield.
As a sidebar, no surprise: some doctors have complained about a review site named RateMDs.com that evidently has some non-patient postings about doctors – a fact that cannot be prevented on a public website such as RateMDs.com which supposedly has postings from ex-spouses or competitors allegedly.
For Zagat, a threshold of 10 reviews of a doctor will be required for posting, and the reviews will be screened for at least abusive language. Times are changing! Zagat sells 650,00 copies of its New York restaurant guide. What great thought leadership to have physician reviews in partnership with the proven track record of Zagat! Everyone, pace yourself and I will do same. Adios
