Doctor Ranking Systems are Inevitable

Implications: CIGNA has received the okay from the NY Attorney General to publish its system for ranking physicians. Aetna is also moving forward with establishing a deal with the Attorney General. This process will proceed rapidly throughout the country and will change consumer behavior.

Analysis: As was to be expected, while doctor's were complaining and pushing for investigations of insurance company physician ranking systems, CIGNA has received the go ahead to begin publishing its ranking while providing consumers and providers with greater insight into how the lists are created. Aetna also announced that they will cooperate with the Attorney General.

As these lists increase and consumers become responsible for more of their health care expenditures, providers who score well on these rankings will see shifts towards their practices.

Because many of these scoring criteria are based on how providers practice according to National Care Guidelines, providers who have better data and access to that data through systems such as Electronic Medical Records (EMR) or Registries for the management of patients with chronic illnesses, will ultimately score higher in these ranking systems. These Provider ranking systems will increase the movement towards electronic medical records by providers.

These ranking systems also consider costs, so those practitioners who have created more efficient practices either through practice redesign, implementation of technology and/or aggregation of providers will also benefit from this trend.

Companies that stand to gain from this are those that provide systems or services to enhance the providers ability to better manage patients and their costs.  There is a lot of room for growth in the provider market for EMRs and other tools.