Doctor awards season brings up credibility questions
It鈥檚 that time of year again 鈥� you know, when city magazines flood physicians’ waiting rooms featuring the latest award winners for Top Doctors, Super Doctors, Best in Medicine, Doctors Choice Awards, and so on.
Accordingly, on my latest dermatology visit days ago, two well-worn copies of the local city magazine prominently lay on the waiting-room coffee table. Each cover featured the portrait of a local, lab-coated, award winning doctor. And each bore a handwritten note taped to the cover highlighting the practice鈥檚 own awarded physicians. Around the edges were Post It notes stuck to the referenced pages within.
Of course, recipients of these awards love to promote the accolades on their websites, on social media and through press releases. Yet the annual ritual raises evergreen questions about the reliability of any kind of ranking system, whether it鈥檚 of healthcare providers, , and, or .
Journalist gets Castle Connolly 鈥淭op Doctors鈥� listing
In 2019, ProPublica journalist and healthcare muckraker Marshall Allen wrote about the industry revolving around these awards.
In summary, Allen 鈥� who did not go to medical school 鈥� was unexpectedly nominated for the Top Doctors award, despite his full-time occupation as a reporter. Even after calling the company presenting the awards and telling them that he had no medical license, the company rep said he could still be listed as a top doctor so long as he paid a $289 fee.
If he wanted a plaque to prove it, that鈥檇 be another 99 bucks. Incidentally, that company, Castle Connolly, announced its sale to a new owner the same month of Allen鈥檚 Politico report.
In any case, Allen paid the $388 total, displayed the plaque in his office, and contacted another company that runs the “Super Doctors” awards. Like the company that sold Allen the plaque, the second organization told him that they use a physician-nomination and credential-checking method for the awards.
I was able to verify that today, the describes a rigorous process of assessing nominees based on ten factors, including years of experience, board certifications, publications and lectures. Sounds legit, right?
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Transparency 鈥� or the lack thereof 鈥� in doctor awards
Then there鈥檚 the very fine print at the bottom of the web page stating that, 鈥淚nformation in this Web site is not medical advice, nor is Super Doctors a physician referral service.鈥� In addition, 鈥渨e make no claim, promise or guarantee about the accuracy, or adequacy of the information contained in, or linked to SuperDoctors.com.鈥�
Sounds a bit like the teeny-tiny disclaimer print on the labels of bottles of nutritional supplements.
A check of the website of other award companies proved no more assuring. claims to 鈥渋nsure (sic) the highest level of credibility鈥� by analyzing award candidates in a four-step process.
The first step is a nomination by another doctor, a patient, a healthcare colleague, or by an internal selection committee. Nominees then are purportedly screened against.
The award website provides no readily available information about its selection process, just that the awards are presented by the American Health Council. A bit more internet sleuthing unearthed a New York corporation by that name registered in 2017 with the
I otherwise could locate no details about its revenues other than a brief website statement that, 鈥渨e are 100% funded by the services we provide to our affiliates.鈥� The website for is likewise rather opaque about its selection methodology.
I soon realized that I could spend days rooting around the internet for transparency about doctor awards that, frankly, should be quickly accessible 鈥� that is, if the award presenters made transparency and reliability their top priority.
I want to believe there are indeed fair and deserved awards, such as the, in which the AMA board of trustees recognizes physicians for the betterment of public health, scientific achievements, and 鈥渆xtraordinary patient care in austere and hostile situation(s).鈥�
When the licensing fee says it all
Otherwise, it鈥檚 hard to avoid concluding that doctor awards are primarily a plaque and trophy business. The award companies usually state firmly that there鈥檚 no fee for the awards. However, the ability of recipients to publicize the honor generally incurs a 鈥渓icensing fee.鈥�
For example, two clients of 乐鱼体育 Communications recently forwarded email announcements that Newsweek magazine had cited their practices as among 125 of 鈥淎merica鈥檚 Best Fertility Clinics 2025.鈥� The email reported four criteria for determining winners: CDC data, a national survey of healthcare providers and administrators, accreditation data and patients鈥� Google reviews.
The email said nothing about any costs to the awardees other than an invitation to inquire about 鈥渓icensing options.鈥� Well, we did inquire. The cost is $11,500 for a Newsweek license fee for permission to promote the accolade publicly for a single year, or $24,500 for a two-year license.
whether physicians should participate in these kinds of awards. Aside from the commercialization aspect, I would like to ask physicians if they’ve ever been patients of any fellow doctors they nominate for the honors.
Granted, patients often report back to referring doctors on their experiences with referred specialists. Plus, referring physicians usually receive clinical reports after the referrals.
Even so, at what rate do referring providers get first-hand reports from patients on their experiences? Does it occur frequently enough to approach a scientific sampling? This is important, as 乐鱼体育鈥檚 own research has shown that customer service in healthcare actually matters far more to patients than clinical outcomes 鈥� by a factor of 19 to 1.
Marshall Allen鈥檚 legacy and lasting message
A sad postscript: Marshall Allen, author of the ProPublica article who erroneously became a 鈥淭op Doctor,鈥� later wrote a terrific book, “Never Pay the First Bill: And Other Ways to Fight the Healthcare System and Win.” Tragically, last May, .
As we approach the first anniversary of his passing, I for one would hope he is remembered for his career-long advocacy for better care and patient well-being. In this spirit, I would ask 鈥� in his memory 鈥� if healthcare providers generally regard clinically unproven health claims with heavy and sometimes scornful skepticism, shouldn鈥檛 they do the same for doctor awards?