If legislators want to help patients make informed health care decisions, they should ensure that their state governments provide accurate, up-to-date information about doctors to the public on the Web.
A report released in October by the advocacy group Public Citizen commends New Jersey for providing the most detailed information about its physicians on the Internet. New Jersey’s Web site includes general profiles of over 30,000 physicians licensed in the state, as well as information about their malpractice judgments, disciplinary actions, and criminal convictions.
Read Public Citizen’s 2006 Report on Doctor Disciplinary Information on State Web Sites here.