2008 Top Doctors

For years I, like many people in the DC area, have relied on Washingtonian Magazine's "Top Docs" issue to find doctors in the Washington, DC area. I always used outdated versions that were available for free on the Web. The top doctors don't really change all that much from year-to-year.

Recently, I went looking for that old online version and came up with the current version instead. I was pleasantly surprised to find it was only $4.95 to obtain unlimited access to the database for a year. I love free, but $4.95 sounded like a mighty good deal. So, I tried it.

I am a little disappointed with it. You can search the database by area, but you can't choose multiple areas (unless you choose all areas or an entire state). So, if you live in Silver Spring, MD near Wheaton and Kensington and work in N.E. DC, but can easily get to N.W. DC, you have to conduct 5 separate searches to hit all of those areas. Honestly? I think I'd rather flip through the hard copy edition.

I was happy to see that the 2008 edition includes a list of insurance plans accepted by each doctor. That's great since more and more doctors are dropping all or many kinds of insurance. However, you can't narrow your search by looking for doctors who accept a specific kind of insurance. Again, I'd rather mark-up a hard copy than browse through all of these superfluous hits.

Since so many physicians aren't accepting new patients or are dropping insurance, and since employee's plans change when they switch jobs or when an employer is looking for a better deal, the "Top Docs" issues is a pretty valuable resource. I just wish I'd paid for the print.

So, hurray for print! Online isn't always best. I think it would be pretty easy for Washingtonian Magazine to make the online version better, but they definitely aren't there yet.

By the way, I have just updated the links in my Give Physicians a Check Up post from 2005.