Health: Surgeon Ratings

By Stephanie Stahl

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- There's a new way to see ratings for surgeons to find which ones have the best outcomes.  It's now available free online to everyone for the first time.

Finding the best surgeon is an important decision. With this new website from non-profit, Consumers' Checkbook, there's an easy way to compare which surgeons have the fewest number of patients who die or have complications. It can be a life or death decision.

Robert Krughoff the president of Consumer's Checkbook says, "We're identifying for consumers which ones do best and which ones do worst."  He says the rating compares top-performing doctors in 14 types of major surgery, including heart, stomach, and knees.  "It rates surgeons in terms of how many deaths, complications and other bad outcomes," Krughoff explains.

The new ratings are based on an analysis of federal government records that covered 4 million surgeries performed by more than 50,000 doctors.  Krughoff says,  "We adjust for how sick the patients are or how old the patients are, what kind of surgery it is, etc, etc.. and once you've done all that adjusting there are some surgeons where you're actually 3 times as likely to die."

Here's how it works: type in your zip code and select a surgery. The site finds the best rated physicians as far as 500 miles away.

Using stars, five being the best, surgeons are ranked on better outcomes, if they're recommended by other doctors who were surveyed and  the hospitals get a check if they have good outcomes.

But not every surgeon is listed. The ratings don't include poor performers.

Link: www.surgeonratings.org