My wife and I have been going to same medical practice for over twenty years.
It seams every few years our Doctors leave/move on to a new practice. We like the office/practice because the people are very nice and it is relatively close to where we live.
We received a letter letting us know once again the Doctor and his PA are leaving. In the letter it list who the remaining staff will be. We do not want to leave however we are just looking for some basic information who they are and their background.
so my question is,is there a database of Medical Doctor information/reviews, something like Yelp.

https://www.healthgrades.com/

I've been very pleased with Healthgrades and it seems the patient written reviews seem to be the most help.

I would NEVER use a database. In most instances it is the disgruntled patient and his or her view of the support staff.
I have lived in the same community for years. When my physician retired I waited a full year to get into the practice of the physician I see. I asked around A LOT, he also met my criteria of sticking around for awhile. His family has lived here for generations and the hospital likes him. He has same day appointments available, is personable and intelligent. You then trust that individual with referrals to specialists. Make sure your choice is 20 years younger than yourself so he will outlive you.
There is no magic wand,do the hard work of talking to neighbors and others.

Google gives me educational info. Any kind of review site I've seen is usually full of complaints about support staff. I've used yelp and other sites and the general gist of reviews are "doctor is great but staff sucks" or "doctor sped through appointment without listening". It's tough to figure out and changing practices based on a guess isn't optimal. I'm going on my third primary in three years which I'm not really happy about but the practice overall is great and their referrals have been top notch. My area is heavily populated and between different insurance groups and doctors not taking new patients it's a lot of work to think about switching.

If you want to find a good doctor, ask a nurse.

I don't know about all the other states but around here you contact the State Medical Board (the one who grants them their license) and see if there are any complaints or actions taken against the doc.

I have done this just for peace of mind.
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^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Good luck. In most states it is hidden on their website. Besides it is only the most egregious stuff that finds its way onto their site. Malpractice judgements etc are generally absent. Of course if the doc has committed a high profile bank robbery that might rate a notation. Besides if the doc is working for the hospital that issue has already been vetted.

quote:

Originally posted by NK402:
If you want to find a good doctor, ask a nurse.

Agree 100%
Most nurses in a local hospital will have a very good idea of who is good or not.

This has evolved however. In the old days,( mostly long gone now) primary care doctors would also admit and care for you in the hospital. Back then the opinion of the nurses was very reliable.
These days care is more fragmented, with office docs handing off care to hospital docs ( aka Hospitalist) so the nurses may not have quite as much inside intel on doc quality in the office setting.

I actually use Yelp. Doctors get reviewed on Yelp too.

Thank you for all of your responses.
You all have given me some great resources and ideas to start doing some research.

If I do an internet search for my name (I refuse to use the term G**gle) you see page after page of “reviews” including places I used to practice. Healthgrades is OK but not really reliable based on my previous experience looking up my and colleagues’ grades.

Asking a nurse would be a great idea if you were admitted to the hospital; but in most cases these days patients in the hospital are cared for by “Hospitalists”, internists who see only patients in the hospital; while primary care docs nowadays rarely admit to a hospital. That has had its benefits but also drawbacks. Primary care physicians no longer see really sick patients, I think their diagnostic skills atrophy.

As others have said, online reviews are poor sources. If you like and trust your outgoing doc, ask him or her who they recommend.

Once again thank you everyone for all your help.

Online reviews for doctors are more miss than hit. The larger a site is (eg Yelp) the more idiots are on it. It’s the same idiots that:

give McDonald’s 5 stars and give a place 2 stars that charges more because they use prime grade beef.

give a 1-star review on Amazon because USPS wasn’t timely.

Do you want to trust your health to these window lickers?

My employer moves me every few years, and I like to get my PCP recommendations from someone I know (neighbor, coworker, etc) who is a critical thinker. I get my specialist recommendations from PCP and people I know.

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Ego is the anesthesia that deadens the pain of stupidity

DISCLAIMER: These are the author's own personal views and do not represent the views of the author's employer.