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Top Doctors

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THOSE OF US WHO’VE BEEN AROUND long enough to remember when the family doctor made house calls may have some difficulty these days finding a physician who measures up to the old model. But the truth is that while some of the ease of medical care may have diminished over the years, the quality of patient care has grown at warp speed.

In San Diego in 2004, the increasing number of excellent doctors in a growing field of specialties gives us a better-thanever chance of finding just the right doctor to fit our own—and our families’—needs.

This is the third year in a row we’ve brought you our list of San Diego’s finest physicians, and it’s a bigger, more thoroughly researched and better group than ever.

Last year, we listed 247 top doctors in 30 specialties. This year, with our survey conducted in partnership with the San Diego County Medical Society (SDCMS), the list has grown to 328 in 34 specialties. As usual, these “Top Docs” are ranked by others in their profession—these are the doctors deemed best by their peers.

San Diego Magazine and SDCMS asked members from each medical specialty in San Diego to vote for their top colleagues. This year, for the first time, only physicians who are board certified in their medical specialty took part. Board-certified doctors have proven—by taking national exams—that they have specified knowledge and skills. Board-certified physicians who are members of SDCMS received ballots with all verified board-certified colleagues in their specialty—whether members of the society or not. Each specialty picked its own “Top Docs,” including write-in candidates. The results are printed in this issue.

“Quality—like art or pornography, we all think we know it when we see it,” says the society’s communications chair, James Santiago Grisolia. “To most of us, quality care means a doctor who listens to us and does his or her best to get us the best results possible. Mostly, that means caring and communication, although it also means efficiency and quality, as well as programs to improve care for people with diabetes and other conditions. “Even for hospitals or health planners, measuring knowledge and skill turns out to be surprisingly hard,” says Grisolia. “It’s simple to compare major complications of surgery from one hospital to another, for example. But how do you know the patients weren’t more severely ill at the hospital with the higher complication rate? And telling the difference between skill and luck becomes nearly impossible when doctors or hospitals are evaluated on small numbers of cases, such as for rare conditions or in unusual operations.”

SDCMS says its primary goal is to increase quality and access to care throughout San Diego. Our goal at San Diego Magazine is to give readers the best possible information available. There are many ways to choose a good doctor. Some extremely competent doctors are absent from this list. Does this mean you should drop your trusted family physician and head for a “Top Doc? Not necessarily.

As Dr. Grisolia says, “Your quality of care depends on picking a doctor who listens to you and has a style that fits your personality and needs. That’s more important than any survey. Find a primary doctor who seems interested—who feels like he or she is working for you. Then, when you need a surgeon or other specialty care, ask your primary doctor who he or she would pick for their own family.”


TOM BLAIR
Editor-in-Chief

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