The annual U.S. News physician survey, which captures medical specialists’ expert opinions on which hospitals provide high-quality referral care in their specialty, began today. As we do each year, our first wave of invitations was emailed to a randomly selected 10-percent subset of the eligible physicians who are users of Doximity. We start with a 10-percent subset to ensure that there are no issues with rollout before we send invitations to the entire eligible population.
All other survey-eligible Doximity users who have not yet received an invitation by email can expect to get one by the end of next week. The survey will continue into mid-March, and reminder emails will be sent to physicians who do not respond initially. Each physician will receive instructions in his or her email invitation to participate.
To be survey-eligible, a physician must be a Doximity user and must meet U.S. News’ eligibility criteria, which are determined primarily by board certification in a specialty U.S. News evaluates.
The following information is intended to address some questions we have been asked by hospital representatives. However, it is not necessary for hospital administrators to brief their physician colleagues about the survey; eligible physicians will get all of the information they need via email.
Has the survey begun? Yes, it began today. However, most Doximity users have not yet been sent an invitation email. They will receive one next week, and will get ample time and reminder emails before the survey closes in March. The survey start dates are staggered by design, as in past years.
Why are the exact dates of the online survey not available? Different physicians will receive their survey materials on different dates and/or receive different deadlines for responding. That’s because we conduct randomized experiments — guided by survey experts at RTI International, which runs the survey for U.S. News — with respect to certain aspects of the survey. Such experiments may
enable us to increase the response rate in future years by adopting the methods that work best. Because these experiments are randomized, no hospital is advantaged or disadvantaged. Each physician will receive instructions in his or her email invitation to participate.
Will physicians get reminders in case they miss the initial email? Yes. We send at least one follow-up email to physicians if they do not respond to our initial invitation to participate in the survey. Additionally, survey-eligible Doximity users will receive notification reminders after logging in to Doximity’s online platform if they have not yet submitted their nominations.
Why do some doctors not get surveyed? U.S. News surveys physicians who specialize in one of the 15 adult specialties and 11 pediatric specialties for which U.S. News has developed a ranking. Many doctors practice in other specialties, such as anesthesia, emergency medicine, general internal medicine, general pediatrics and more. Since U.S. News does not rank hospitals in those specialties, it currently does not survey doctors who practice in those
specialties.
Are doctors of osteopathy surveyed? Both D.O.’s and M.D.’s are eligible to participate in the survey, provided that they hold one or more of the eligibility-conferring board certifications issued by the AOA or by an ABMS-affiliated medical board.
Does a doctor have to be a Doximity user to participate in the U.S. News survey? The survey is open to eligible Doximity members, provided that they meet the eligibility criteria. Physicians may register for Doximity at any time, and may participate in the survey if they are registered users at any time during the survey period.
