Since 1989, Best Doctors has conducted one of the largest ongoing peer-to-peer physician polls in health care to identify the physicians other physicians trust most.
The poll question mirrors the peer-to-peer referral process that physicians themselves use to determine the most appropriate physician for an individual case or to find the best care for themselves and their families: “If you or a loved one needed a physician in your specialty, to whom would you refer?”
All listed Best Doctors have received a consensus of their peer physicians support as one to whom they would refer loved ones for care. Once a physician receives consensus, he/she is researched and verified for clinical activity, licensure and disciplinary actions.
A selected Best Doctor doesn’t remain in the database forever. The peer-review process requires that every listed Best Doctor physician be re-evaluated by their peers in each poll. Best Doctors, Inc. does not pay physicians to be included in the database, nor do physicians or their organizations pay Best Doctors. A physician cannot apply to become a Best Doctors physician. The only way for a physician to be selected to the database is to be nominated by and then receive voting consensus from Best Doctors physicians.
As a result, Best Doctors, Inc. has a proprietary, global database of leading physicians — free from commercial and financial bias – of more than 50,000 physicians in more than 450 specialties and subspecialties.
Best Doctors, Inc. is not a list company and does not publish a directory of the database.
Gallup® has audited and certified Best Doctors, Inc.’s database of physicians, and its companion Best Doctors in America® List, as using the highest industry standards, survey methodology and processes.