WASHINGTON 鈥� If you鈥檙e thinking of checking up on your doctor,聽there’s a database you can search that tracks outcomes for surgeons nationwide.
The database covers concerns such as “How often do they kill people; what do their adjusted mortality rates look like; what do their complications rates look like,鈥� said Kevin Brasler, executive editor at Checkbook.org.
Brasler said聽rates of death, complications聽and readmissions can vary greatly among doctors. Even within the same hospital, Brasler said, results of the same procedure can vary dramatically from doctor to doctor.
“Some have death rates that are three times higher than others within a certain area. Some have rates of compilations that are three or four times higher than others within the same region,” Brasler said.
The website allows you to search by ZIP code聽for surgeons doing a dozen types of procedures such as gastric聽bypass, angioplasty,聽and hip and knee replacements.
“For 10 years聽we fought the government to release the data behind the ratings on that site for outcomes,” Brasler said. “These data existed; the government was just unwilling to share them聽with the public.”
typically requires people to buy a聽subscription to聽see specific rankings for聽businesses doing聽various services.
The surgical outcomes rankings, however, are free. You can find them .
“That website is available free to everyone because we just thought it was really important that those data be available,” Brasler said.
