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Castle Connolly Medical Ltd. America's Trusted Source for Identifying Top Doctors The Best in American Medicine |
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| WHY TOP DOCTORS MATTER |
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A Message for Employers Most people would agree that gambling with their health is a dangerous idea. When it comes to medical care, excellence and expertise are crucially important. Yet Americans receive top-quality care from their doctors and hospitals only about half of the time. From inadequate screening during routine checkups to subpar treatment of critical illnesses, inferior care can have costly and tragic results. Too often, patients simply don't know how to find the best doctor to deliver the best care. Castle Connolly takes this challenge seriously. Since the company's founding in 1991, our guides to Amercia's Top Doctors have been identifying the nation's best doctors and hospitals in every part of the country and in every medical specialty. Our lists are based on peer nominations and professional assessments by our physician-led research team – not on hype, advertising, or third parties that have something to gain by recommending a particular provider. Castle Connolly's Top doctors are rigorously selected from among hundreds of thousands of physicians. Our intensive research methodology is designed to identify doctors that will speed patients' healing, minimize pain and discomfort, shorten recovery periods and enhance and lengthen lives – in other words, achieve the best possible health outcomes. Today such independent assessment of medical care is more important than ever. Anyone can draw up a "best of" list – and many organizations do. Pharmaceutical companies favor those physicians who are high prescribers of their drugs. To many health insurers, a physician's fees are often a more important factor than quality. Many magazines and websites recommend health care providers who pay to get their names mentioned. But Castle Connolly has no such conflicts of interest. Our sole purpose is to help patients, their families and their employers find health care providers who deliver superior results. After a physician's name is submitted by colleagues as part of our nomination process for consideration as a Top Doctor, our physician-led research team delves into the professional records of top nominated physicians in order to ascertain those that have exceptional training, experience and are highly regarded by their peers. In addition, disciplinary histories and malpractice actions, when available, are also carefully scrutinized. Top Doctors can have an enormous impact. For patients and their families, the value of receiving first-class medical care is great but unquantifiable – it's measured in quality and even length of life. Employers, however, can see the results in their bottom line. Faulty diagnoses and improper treatment take a toll in productivity and ripple out into higher workplace costs. No company should have to make do for weeks or months without a key employee or executive, when a Top Doctor may have solved the patient's problem efficiently and simply. Castle Connolly has dozens of examples, some dramatic and lifesaving, that demonstrate the point that finding the best doctor or hospital can make a significant difference in patients' lives. The few that follow clearly demonstrate this point. Expertise and leading-edge technology are especially important in diagnosing and treating cancer, stroke and cardiovascular patients. Administered by a Top Doctor, sophisticated techniques may keep pancreatic and brain cancer sufferers alive for years, compared with the few months that conventional chemotherapy normally achieves. Top Doctors often have higher cure rates for prostate and breast cancer, thanks in part to early detection, but also due to more advanced treatment options. Patients with cardiac disease can frequently avoid open-heart or multiple-bypass surgery with stents and other less-invasive technologies. And although many physicians will counsel elderly patients to avoid surgery under any circumstances, a Top Doctor may be able to operate on people 90 years of age or older and still achieve excellent outcomes. Stroke victims, in the hands of Top Doctors, can recover to a degree unheard of just a few years ago. World-class neurosurgeons can deal with bleeding strokes that were formerly inoperable. Early detection through imaging and swift treatment with drugs can dissolve clots blocking critical blood flow to the brain before permanent damage is done – and without invasive procedures. Men operated on at hospitals and by surgeons with high volumes of particular procedures, specifically radical prostatectomy, had a 7.7 percent risk of recurrence of prostate cancer as compared to 10.9 percent for surgeries done by physicians with lower surgical volumes. As further evidence of this principle, consider the following statistics, all reported in a recent Newsweek article and based on professional journal reports. At leading cancer centers: The bottom line: Top Doctors can help patients in ways not generally available in the medical community. But while consumers know this to be true, most lack the resources to make the best choices when they fall ill. Many people rely on referrals from the family physician, yet even a trusted and competent physician may not be the best source of information. Doctors are busy with their practices, and their referral contacts are usually limited to their plan network or hospital. Few have time to research who, wherever in the nation, is really the best for a particular procedure or problem. That often leaves patients who need a top specialist at the mercy of advertising and hearsay. They may even pick a name at random from their insurer's directory or website, or even respond to advertising. Employees Benefit Program Knowledgeable employers realize that providing employees and their families with access to the best medical care, as well as avoiding the worst, impacts a company's bottom line in a positive way. Money saved on the wrong treatment, unnecessary surgery, days lost from work, or the focus on the illness of a loved one or oneself instead of work, are worth the effort to identify the best doctors. Castle Connolly is committed to helping such patients get the care they need and deserve. Our professional staff, with years of experience, has earned us the trust and respect of the medical and lay communities alike. We are in a unique position to assist individuals and companies in accessing the best and most efficient healthcare available today. Castle Connolly Guides and our website are comprehensive, user-friendly resources that let consumers search top doctors by name, specialty, and geographic location – or even by special expertise in a particular disease or procedure. Hospital affiliations and contact information are presented clearly and concisely. The guides and website also include helpful tools for choosing a Top Doctor, with tips on how to evaluate a physician's education, experience, and personal suitability. When it comes to healthcare, cutting corners rarely pays off. Unlike its imitators, Castle Connolly provides thorough and unbiased research by trained professionals. We believe that choosing a Top Doctor is the most important decision a patient can make and we work tirelessly to facilitate that decision. Help keep your employees healthy. Incorporate Castle Connolly into your employee benefit program today. |
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