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Released: September 08, 2010

Consumer Reports is rating surgical groups

Source: Denise Grady, NY Times (Free Registration)

Medical groups that perform heart bypass surgery are now being rated alongside cars and toaster ovens in Consumer Reports.

In most parts of the country, data-based ratings of doctors are not available to patients. Only a few states, including New York, provide them.

The magazine published ratings of 221 surgical groups from 42 states online on Tuesday and will print them in its October issue. Groups are rated, not individual doctors. The groups receive one, two or three stars, for below average, average or above average. The scores were based on complication and survival rates, whether the groups used the best surgical technique and whether patients were being sent home with certain medicines that research has shown to be beneficial after this type of surgery.

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