CMS Site Compares Physicians

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services has launched Physician Compare, a new Web site mandated under the Affordable Care Act to aid consumers in selecting their physicians.


The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services has launched Physician Compare, a new Web site mandated under the Affordable Care Act to aid consumers in selecting their physicians.

The site, at medicare.gov/find-a-doctor, is a significant enhancement of CMS' existing Healthcare Provider Directory Web service. Physician Compare lists physicians participating in the Medicare program and includes contact information for offices, medical specialty, education and residency, gender, and foreign languages spoken.

The site also displays a practice's quality measures under the Physician Quality Reporting Initiative, now called the Physician Quality Reporting System. The site later this year will note if the physician electronically prescribes. By 2013, the site is mandated to include information on quality of care and patient experiences.

--Joseph Goedert