New York votes to post doctors' details on net

Following President Clinton's move to reduce medical mistakes (4 March, p 597), the New York state legislature has passed the Health Information and Quality Improvement Bill, which requires the state's department of health to post on its website the professional profiles of doctors practising in New York state.

This information will include education, hospital affiliations, professional awards, malpractice history, and hospital dismissals that resulted from harm to patients. The state health commissioner must post a notice in hospitals and doctors' offices giving the website and also a free telephone number for patients to call to get the listings.

The bill also requires the state to develop other quality assurance measures for the public, such as regular hospital report cards and heart surgery survival rates. “In the end, we will have the most extensive information among the states that consumers can use,” said State Senator Kemp Hannon, the health committee's chairman.

Florida and Massachusetts are two states with aggressive reporting laws that provided models for the New York bill. Consumer groups and insurance companies supported the bill, with Empire Blue Cross and Blue Shield placing several full page newspaper advertisements in favour of it.

The New York health department's website is http://www.health.state.ny.us/nysdoh/opmc/main.htm