Most of you know how to search your own name. Type your name into a search engine and you’ll see what’s being written about you online.
The good news is that most of us won’t have a lot of stuff. Still, it’s worth a search every once in a while.
If you want to be thorough, you’re supposed to hire a private investigator to really go through your online profile in detail. But, whatever you uncover next is going to need a lawyer to change.
Dollars for Docs
Let’s talk about a few other places where you can do a search. This one was new to me.
Dollars for Docs is a website which lists how many dollars you’ve received from various industries. I figured it was going to be $0. But I am at $17.
It’s hard to say where that came from. I don’t recall attending any drug rep dinners or partnering with any medical device companies.
One neurosurgeon on that site is listed as having received $29 million in 2018 alone. All for licensing and royalties.
A Family Medicine doctor on there earned $8 million for speaking engagements. Mostly from medical device companies.
UCLA, Cedar Sinai, and even Kaiser Permanente have received money from healthcare industries.
Surgeon Scorecard
ProPublica, the same people behind Dollars for Docs, also publish a surgeon scorecard.
It’s a hard website for me to navigate. But if you’re a private practice or a surgeon, it’s worth checking out your physician scorecard on there.
Vital Signs
Another site is Vital Signs which lists your standing with the Federal Healthcare system – Medicaid and Medicare, for example.
According to this website I am paid $255/patient. Nice. And this from Medicaid and Medicare, no less.
Physician Scorecards
The realm of physician scorecards has been in high demand ever since data collection has been more accessible.
The problem is that it’s often not a very accurate picture. I obviously didn’t get paid an average of $255/patient. Not only is that absurd by CMS standards but I also don’t have my own practice. As in, I never got direct money from CMS – it got filtered through my employer.
All this data affects our reputation and definitely will be used against you in some court case sometime in the future. So it’s good to be at least aware of it.
Online Physician Reputation
In the past, I have talked a lot about how to maintain your online physician reputation.
There are companies you can hire who will clean up your online profile. A good place to start is LinkedIn.
But you can do a lot for yourself but having your own website and controlling your own reputation.
If you have your own website, podcast, and video channel, it’s hard for anyone to put words into your mouth. You can clearly and concisely communicate your viewpoints. This is way more powerful than you think.
Your reputation is for sale. And the financial consequences of a poor reputation are high. And though I hope you’ll never have to defend your reputation, prevention is an effective and cheap strategy.