Nib’s introduction of its whitecoat website to New Zealand has been branded “a serious concern” by the Association of Salaried Medical Specialists (ASMS), which claims the website sets “a dubious precedent” and raises concerns around the fair treatment of doctors.
Health insurer Nib announced the launch of the doctor comparison site in New Zealand - it has already been dubbed “the TripAdvisor of healthcare” in Australia, where it was developed. The idea is that patients are able to leave reviews for healthcare providers, which will then help inform others who may be searching for specialist treatment.
ASMS has come out strongly against the concept, calling it a “blunt and ineffective” tool that may end up doing more harm than good.
“We’ve found a number of things that make this site very dubious,” ASMS executive director Ian Powell told Insurance Business. “Our main concern is that this is no way of making a judgement call about how good a specialist is – there was a doctor in the UK who was loved by all his patients, and his name was Dr Harold Shipman. It also raises serious concerns about fair treatment of doctors if comments can be made about them without any context or attempt at verification.
“What’s more concerning is the fact that a doctor can be placed on to this comparison site without their knowledge or consent,” he continued. “The only way of maintaining a semblance of control is to go through a process of ‘claiming your profile’ – a process the doctor will be charged for, which then gives them the option of not displaying patient comments.”
Once you have claimed your profile, you can then decide not to show any comments made – but members of the public looking at that profile will be informed that they’ve chosen to hide comments. According to Powell, the result is a situation of ‘you’re damned if you do, and you’re damned if you don’t.’
“The website gives the insurer a certain amount of power over a doctor, and of course, patient care is more complex than this,” he said. “They are not choosing between different types of vacuum cleaner; they need qualified expert medical care, not the latest brand. Patients are not consumers, and doctors are not commodities.”
ASMS has called for better transparency around the website’s funding and business relationships with insurers, and has urged them to install mechanisms to ensure doctors are not unfairly singled out.
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