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At DocSpot, our mission is to connect people with the right health care by helping them navigate publicly available information. We believe the first step of that mission is to help connect people with an appropriate medical provider, and we look forward to helping people navigate other aspects of their care as the opportunities arise. We are just at the start of that mission, so we hope you will come back often to see how things are developing.

An underlying philosophy of our work is that right care means different things to different people. We also recognize that doctors are multidimensional people. So, instead of trying to determine which doctors are "better" than others, we offer a variety of filter options that individuals can apply to more quickly discover providers that fit their needs.

Site redesign

by jerry on December 14, 2019

For those of you who have visited our site before, you might have noticed that we have updated the visual design. It's been a long process, but we're glad to have modernized the aesthetics.

For those of you who have visited our site before, you might have noticed that we have updated the visual design. It's been a long process, but we're glad to have modernized the aesthetics.

Not all of the details have been worked out, so if you see any rough spots, please let us know. For 2020, we have many more areas that we would like to extend, especially in data visualization.

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Hospitals fight price transparency

by jerry on December 07, 2019

The New York Times has reported that as expected, hospitals have filed a lawsuit against CMS' requirements that hospitals post prices of various procedures. It appears that the main argument is that the hospitals will face extensive administrative burden in making this information available.

The New York Times has reported that as expected, hospitals have filed a lawsuit against CMS' requirements that hospitals post prices of various procedures. It appears that the main argument is that the hospitals will face extensive administrative burden in making this information available.

Other industries have likewise complained about administrative burden (e.g. the mobile phone carriers industry complaining about how supporting phone number portability would increase costs). In what might be an foreboding sign for CMS' requirements, a federal court earlier ruled that the Department of Health and Human Services did indeed overstep its legal authority when requiring pharmaceutical manufacturers to disclose drug prices in television ads. It might be that Congress needs to take action to enforce compliance.

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Happy Thanksgiving 2019

by jerry on November 29, 2019

Hope everyone had a splendid Thanksgiving!

Hope everyone had a splendid Thanksgiving!

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On physicians with multiple malpractice claims

by jerry on November 24, 2019

The Wall Street Journal published a lengthier piece outlining some of the struggles that the Indian Health Service (IHS) has had with recruiting physicians. While the vacancy rate for the industry is reported to be 18%, the vacancy rate for IHS was found to be 29%. It appears that in light of the recruiting challenges, IHS has hired physicians that it might not have hired otherwise: physicians that other hospitals and medical groups would not employ.

The Wall Street Journal published a lengthier piece outlining some of the struggles that the Indian Health Service (IHS) has had with recruiting physicians. While the vacancy rate for the industry is reported to be 18%, the vacancy rate for IHS was found to be 29%. It appears that in light of the recruiting challenges, IHS has hired physicians that it might not have hired otherwise: physicians that other hospitals and medical groups would not employ.

The article brings up many interesting issues. At a policy level, one question is whether the federal government (which pays out malpractice claims) is actually saving money by keeping salaries at the level that they are (the article lists several 6-digit malpractice claims that the government paid out). A second issue is that IHS and other hospitals have access to a government database called the National Practitioner Data Bank, which flagged most, if not all of, the mentioned doctors. However, records from the National Practitioner Data Bank are not publicly available and as a result, patients are reliant on the judgement of hospital administration. In cases where hospital administration struggles to fill vacancies, patients may feel betrayed, as some of those interviewed for the article seem to feel. A policy change could require that the data bank is open to the public, allowing engaged patients to make more informed decisions for themselves (and less reliant on the judgement of hospital administrators). The article also mentioned that licensing occurs on a state basis, meaning that a physician who has been disciplined multiple times in one state can still operate with a clean license in another state. Perhaps a more national method of licensing and credentialing is in order.

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CMS finalizes hospital pricing transparency requirements

by jerry on November 17, 2019

Kaiser Health News reported on CMS's finalization of its Hospital Price Transparency Requirements. Hospitals will need to publish a list of services, their prices, and a range of negotiated discounts. CMS will specify 70 services that hospitals will need to publish data for, and hospitals themselves can select another 230.

Kaiser Health News reported on CMS's finalization of its Hospital Price Transparency Requirements. Hospitals will need to publish a list of services, their prices, and a range of negotiated discounts. CMS will specify 70 services that hospitals will need to publish data for, and hospitals themselves can select another 230.

An earlier version of this policy required hospitals to not only publish insurance discounts, but also how much each discount would be for each insurance company (and perhaps plan). That would have been more useful to consumers so that they can more accurately assess how much they would likely be liable for given their specific plan. Nevertheless, this policy is still a step in towards pricing transparency.

Kaiser Health News also noted the proposal to require insurers to offer financial calculators to their members, which would be another welcome change.

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