“Consumer Reports Now Rating Doctors”

Medical groups that perform heart bypass surgery are now being rated alongside cars and trucks in Consumer Reports. In most parts of the country, data-based ratings of doctors are not available to patients. The magazine published ratings of 221 surgical groups from 42 states online on Tuesday and will print them in its October issue. Only groups, not individual doctors are rated. 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.