All you need to know about health care quality is encapsulated in Ian Morrison’s line–"you can tell a quality doctor when the people in the waiting room make more money than you do".  The latest Harris Poll on the subject shows that "Reputation", and the reccomendations of families and friends are still what drives doctor choice, while for hospital choice, whether the patient’s insurance plan covers it is added into the mix. (Although virtually all plans cover all hospitals unless Sutter and Blue Cross are fighting again!).  Only 20% said that they would choose a doctor because the doctor had been highly rated in a published evalutation of doctors. (Harris’s site is down at the moment, but their healthcare section should be here and is well worth cruising through). So well over a decade into NCQA and all that, we’re a long, long way from Consumer Reports