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FeedTop Doctors 2012
Once again, it’s our peer-selected list of the best physicians in Charlotte. Plus, meet six top docs who look out for the body’s most important organs
Presenting the 2012 Top Doctors:
CLICK HERE to see a fill list of our 2011 and 2012 Top Doctors.
Everything you’d ever need to know about Charlotte magazine’s Top Doctors list:
How did you pick the doctors?
We didn’t. Area physicians did. We mailed a link to an online survey to almost all of the physicians with active medical licenses in Cabarrus, Gaston, Mecklenburg, and Union counties according to a list from the North Carolina Medical Board. The survey asked: what doctor would you call if you or a loved one needed medical care? Physicians had to input their license numbers to take the survey.
So is this just a big popularity contest, then?
In some ways, yes. Physicians were asked not to vote for themselves and to make their selections without regard to hospital, clinic, or health plan affiliations. The number of responses helps eliminate favoritism or bias.
If doctors buy ads, do they get on the list?
No. The survey and its tallying were conducted completely independent from advertising, and results were not released prior to the magazine being printed.
What if my doctor isn’t on the list?
If you feel comfortable with your physician, by all means stick with him or her. This list represents only the top 7 to 10 percent or so of area doctors in the selected specialties—plenty of great doctors aren’t on it.
I’m a physician, and I never received a survey. Why not?
We diligently try to maintain our database, but we may not have your correct mailing information. You can visit charlottemagazine.com to update your practice contact information. Also, the survey postcard may have never reached your inbox for a number of other reasons beyond our control.
Are these doctors accepting new patients?
Some are; some aren’t. Because that status can change from month to month, we didn’t include that information.
How do I know if a doctor on the list is board certified?
The NC Medical Board (ncmedboard.org) has a list of all board-certified medical doctors practicing in North Carolina (and some in South Carolina).
What does it mean to be board certified?
According to the American Board of Medical Specialties, certification by an ABMS Member Board involves a rigorous process of testing and peer evaluation designed and administered by specialists in the specific area of medicine. For more information about board certification, visit ncmedboard.org.
We invite your responses and discussion. Please refrain from personal attacks, profanity, commercial promotion, or non sequiturs.
Reader Comments:
To the interested medical consumer:
This is a publicity contest for Presby and CHS execs who urge their physician employees to vote for MD's in their own network. That doctor's "loved ones" are reminded not "to call" the competing network's doctors across the street "for medical care."
According to Charlotte Magazine, "almost all" docs receive the survey with log-in info on a snail-mail postcard. If the "Top Doc" has electronic medical records or has an electronic inbox of patient related material, he/she may very well not receive the snail-mail postcard survey and not be included in the vote. Not coincidentally, these postcards do indeed reach the publicity-seeking managers in the Presby and CHS systems who then initiate the voting process for their organization.
Charlotte Magazine actually states that it relies on individual doctors to input their own contact info on www.charlottemagazine.com in order for the snail-mail postcard to reach them. How many actual "Top Docs" (that are busy practicing medicine) would actually create an account, log on, and do this?
The docs who have been successfully reached by the US Postal Service postcard are then asked to vote "without regard to hospital." There are no safeguards to prevent this from happening.
(Question: what 2 (two) hospital systems have the most ad space in the current magazine?)
Charlotte Magazine then sits back, collects the biased data, writes a couple of fluff pieces for the chosen hopital systems, and hypes this annual issue as the "best-selling" issue of the year.
@Charlotte Fact Checker
Thanks for your comment. Most of your concerns are addressed in the FAQ located on this page. However, there are a few specific points I'd like to make:
• Our database: We spend 100+ hours each year updating our database of area physicians. It covers a five-county area. We mail the postcard to every name on the list. We use the wording "almost all" because we recognize that not every postcard will get through, and we acknowledge that despite our diligent factchecking efforts, we won't have every doctor in our database. We do offer physicians the chance to send us updated contact information via our website (it is a very simple web form), but that is not our first line of defense, so to speak.
• There is absolutely no relationship between our Top Doctors list and the advertising department. We don't release the names on the list until the issue is printed.
Thanks again for your comment.
Richard Thurmond
Editor, Charlotte magazine
We have not received a survey, to our knowledge. We are one of the top rated Sleep Disorders / Sleep Apnea clinics in the South East region, and are located in Concord, NC. We are an independent physician practice, which means less overhead and lower medical fees to the consumer. Most patients spend less than $100 out of pocket on the major insurance plans for a full study, as compared to thousands of dollars out of pocket with the major medical hospitals, as we have no hospital related "facility charge" that is over and above the Physician fees. You do not need to be referred by your primary physician to come to us and get relief from your sleep troubles; simply call us and we will check with your insurance and file all paperwork, including updating your primary physician with treatment notes, as desired. Our clinic is not in a hospital setting; it is more like a high end hotel, with extra comfortable beds, high definition tv's, late night snacks, and mints on the pillows.
Our resident physician, Dr. Daniel Garber, is a Neurologist who practiced at Northeast Medical and other South East area hospitals in NC, TN and VA before opening his practice. In most cases, we are able to schedule new patients within one week of a request for an appointment. Our office can be reached at:
(704) 707-4120
http://www.carolinassleepspecialists.com
400 Penny Lane, NE
Concord, NC 28025
Fax (704) 706-9520
None of my Charlotte physician colleagues have ever been contacted for this survey (postcards ? - I've been here 20 years and have never received a postcard from CM). On the other hand, I am contacted by the "Best Doctors" survey group out of Boston multiple times yearly for my input. I'm just saying what every one else has been saying for the last several years, that this has become a sham for CMC and Novant marketing departments. Of course, it does increase Charlotte Magazine's sales every summer.