Welcome to 2010's Top Doctors List
How is Top Doctors Created?
Frequently Asked Questions about the Top Doctors Process
Q: How are doctors on this list chosen?
We send the Top Doctors survey to 2,500 randomly selected physicians and 2,500 randomly selected registered nurses. These doctors and nurses fill out the survey, telling us which doctors they would go to in pre-selected specialties, and then return the survey to us. About 20 percent of the surveys mailed out are returned, which is a good rate of return for a mail survey. We then tally the results, and physicians in the top 15 percent (approximately) of vote-getters in each specialty become our Top Doctors.
Q: How do you decide which doctors to send the survey to?
We request a list from the Mailing List Service from the State of Minnesota's list of licensed physicians and nurses in the 10-county metro area. The service (not Mpls.St.Paul Magazine) randomly selects which doctors and nurses get sent the survey. The survey is not sent to clinics, hospitals, or health care groups, just to individuals at the addresses they have given to the licensing board.
Q: How are the medical specialties chosen?
Each year we re-evaluate which specialties to include. We only include specialties certified by the American Board of Medical Specialties. This year, we decided not to include such specialties as anesthesiology, emergency medicine, and pediatricemergency medicine because patients cannot make appointments in these areas of specialty.
Q: Why isn't my doctor on this list?
While we like to think that every doctor on this list is good, not every good doctor makes it onto this list. It can be hard for newer doctors or doctors in smaller practices to make this list. Plus, we may not include a specialty that your doctor practices.
Q: Isn't this list just a popularity contest?
Unfortunately, we cannot control if a doctor votes for everyone at his or her clinic or in his or her group. In sending surveys to randomly selected people, we hope to avoid a lot of politics, but we can only do so much. Any attempt at ballot stuffing disqualifies a doctor, and copied surveys are discarded. Using this list is a lot like going to your doctor for a recommendation, but we've done the work for you‹and asked more doctors than you ever could. Please use the list as a starting point in finding a doctor.
Q: Do doctors need to be advertisers to be on the list?
No. We put the list together before our advertising team even starts its work. Some doctors do choose to advertise after they know they're on the list, but advertising does not get them a spot on the list.
Q: Does Mpls.St.Paul Magazine check all doctors on the list?
We contact each doctor on the list to verify the information in that doctor's listing.
Q: How do you decide which doctors to profile?
This year, we searched for doctors with compelling patient stories‹and patients willing to talk about their experiences. We do our best to vary the specialties that are featured and try to cover the metro area as best we can. Advertising is not a factor.
Q: What does the ambulance symbol mean?
If a doctor has been on four of the last six Top Doctors lists, they receive an ambulance next to their listing. We also note if a doctor is a DO (doctor of osteopathy) or DPM (doctor of podiatric medicine). All other doctors are MDs.
For a complete listing of all metro area doctors, see our Medical Guide.
© 2010 MSP Communications, Inc. All rights reserved