Welcoming transparency: some physicians find merit in online ratings.
This letter to the editor is in response to Wendy Budin's editorial, "Welcoming Transparency," published in the Volume 18, Number 2 (Spring 2009) issue of The Journal of Perinatal Education. As Dr. Budin noted, some individuals in the medical community want to counter consumer-led efforts to rate doctors' performance and find relevant health-care information online. Their opposition to such efforts is exemplified by extreme measures such as the "gag order" mentioned by Dr. Budin. However, a recent article published by Medscape reveals that some physicians understand and welcome the need for transparency in health care.
Levine
Jacqueline
J
JACQUELINE LEVINE is committed to providing a continuum of care to underserved women in Long Island, New York, where she teaches free Lamaze classes and provides free labor, birth, and breastfeeding services to all the women in her classes at Planned Parenthood of Nassau County. She is a contributing author to the Lamaze e-newsletter, Building Confidence Week by Week, and a Marketing Ambassador for the Grassroots Advocacy Committee of the Coalition for Improving Maternity Services.