The Best of the Best

Thursday, November 7, 1996

DOCTORS:

New directory shows UCLA doctors are among most reputableBy
Kathryn Combs

Daily Bruin Contributor

Choosing a doctor is an often difficult and complicated decision
that nearly everyone, even students, is faced with.

However, imagine receiving a fatal diagnosis and trying to
choose a physician qualified to save your life. A thought then
thought crosses your mind: "How can I find the best doctor? Do I
need a second opinion?" In this fury of panic, the decision becomes
all the more important.

It was this very type of situation that prompted the creation of
Best Doctors and Best Lawyers, national directories compiled by
Woodward White Inc.

Five years ago Greg White Smith, vice president of Woodward
White Inc., was diagnosed by two different doctors with a fatal
brain tumor. Given only a few short years to live, he was
determined to find someone that could help him prolong his
life.

He began calling and researching neurological specialists
nationwide until he found the doctor that ultimately saved his life
by removing most of the tumor.

The Los Angeles region directory, published in Los Angeles
Magazine’s November issue, was started by Woodward White Inc. In
surveying local physician’s, Woodward White Inc. made over 7,000
phone interviews and sent out over 10,000 formal letters, resulting
in a list of the 653 most reputable doctors in Los Angeles.

"We rely on qualitative peer evaluation … we extended this
process to virtually every area of medicine and for every major
medical discipline so that people have a reliable resource so that
when they are facing extraneous odds they have someplace to go,"
says Christopher Graeme, marketing director for Woodward White
Inc.

"We ask physicians ‘If you had a close friend or relative
suffering from a disease, to whom outside your own institution
would you refer them?’ … if someone doesn’t have the criteria for
inclusion that will be brought out in the survey process," he
continued.

Woodward White Inc. personally contacts each physician. It is
repeated physician referrals that determine which doctors are added
to the directory. Doctors making these recommendations must refer
outside their institution. For the Los Angeles version of this
directory, only local doctors were polled.

Compiled by Woodward White Inc., the survey results showed that
31 percent of the best doctors in Los Angeles are affiliated with
UCLA, either as doctors or professors.

Of the 32 medical specialities included in the survey, UCLA made
a strong showing in each category. Twenty-one doctors in the
Pediatric category and 34 from Psychiatry were UCLA doctors. Other
specialities include family medicine, cardiovascular disease and
infectious diseases, including the study of HIV and AIDS.

Doctors included in the directory are pleased with the
recognition and potential patient referrals which result from such
a directory.

"It (the survey) says what we already know, UCLA Medical is
first rate … we hope that in the future the medical center will
continue its emphasis on expertise and not continue being solely
concerned about economic aspects," said Gildon Beall, chief of the
allergy and immunology research division at the Harbor-UCLA medical
center.

"We were pleased that there were a number from Harbor since we
are dealing with the poor … it’s nice that sometimes people
recognize us," he continued.

Dr. Raman Sanker,with the UCLA department of Neurology stressed
the significance of this for UCLA.

"As a hospital we’ve been recognized nationally … if you look
at the U.S. News and World Report, we have always been in the top
three … (and) UCLA did not have a medical school in the 1960s,"
Sanker said.

"I’m very pleased and happy to be recognized … I think to some
extent it is a reflection of the skills at UCLA, he added. "It is a
very remarkable achievement … we should all be proud of it."

Other physicians have shown a definite negative response to this
recognition, questioning the validity and importance of the
survey.

"I tend not to place too much stock in these kinds of things …
because it’s all a kind of publicity. I tend to shy away from it
… all things that give people their Andy Warhol 15 minutes are
suspect," said Dr. Robert Rodman who specializes in psychoanalysis
at UCLA and has a private practice in Beverly Hills.

"We have a celebrity culture. This is minor, minor celebrity,
but nonetheless it is highly suspect … this (list) is not the
result of a scientific experiment," he continued.

Some referred to the directory as inaccurate, biased and not
representative of the medical profession.

"It’s an honor, (but) I don’t know that it means much … I
think there are a lot of good doctors who were unlisted who could
have been … the list isn’t comprehensive," said Ellie Goldstein,
a clinical professor of medicine at UCLA who specializes in
infectious diseases and has a practice in Santa Monica.

"… There are a lot of things that go into the media and you
take it all with a grain of salt," he concluded.

Mixed reaction aside, UCLA students can take pride in the fact
that they are receiving some of the best health care in Los
Angeles. Perhaps, die-hard Bruins would be interested in knowing
that USC’s physicians captured only 10 percent of the list.