Finding a Quality Doctor

It’s one of those words that used to mean something: actual quality you could trust. Nowadays in hospital hallways, quality is a charged word that is more corporate-speak than actual English, eliciting stomach churning and eye rolling in equal measures.

Quality. Who can argue with such a noble goal? Of course we all want quality medical care. Doctors want to provide quality care, patients want to receive quality care, and administrators want to demonstrate quality care in their institutions. All parties aligned in agreement.

The problem, of course, is that no one can agree on how to measure quality. This might be an intriguing question to untangle, if it weren’t for the fact that the quality measurement field has long since left the starting gate. Despite a lack of agreement on how best to measure quality, metrics are being applied broadly, with concrete consequences for doctors, nurses, hospitals and patients.

My own experience in being evaluated for “quality” left me with decidedly mixed feelings. Our hospital had undertaken a laudable and herculean effort to improve the care of patients with diabetes. There was no disagreement that diabetes is one of the most complicated diseases we face, and that these patients would benefit from the best medical care possible.

In that light, each doctor was given a report card citing the percentages of his or her patients whose glucose, blood pressure and cholesterol were

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