Since April 27, Le Point has made available to its readers, on newsstands and on its website, the very first “list of expert doctors” in 14 medical and surgical disciplines in France. From cardiology to ophthalmology, via urology, orthopedics or dermatology, this ranking highlights 1,000 practitioners based on more than 30,000 scientific publications to help patients navigate a system uneven and obscure care.
The list of doctors is an extension of that of hospitals and clinics. But, this time, we went right to the heart of the services by asking ourselves which doctors are the most active in research and, as such, the most expert.
Many readers expressed their interest in this survey. Doctors have also highlighted its relevance. Institutions such as the Foch Hospital or the Federation of Cancer Centers via the Institut Mutualiste Montsouris, have welcomed the excellent results obtained by their doctors.
??The magazine @LePoint publishes the ranking of doctors who, in addition to their clinical activities, also do research and publish in scientific journals. Congratulations to the many IMM doctors present in the ranking ?? Read here: https://t.co/SAyrIPyCe2 pic.twitter.com/4loGg4UkGI
But this work also made people cringe. And this is not a surprise, since even before the publication, the National Council of the Order of Physicians (Cnom) put a spoke in our wheels by indicating to “doctors who would appear and be put forward in a list of expert doctors” that they were “likely to be ethically sanctioned”. Despite the pressure exerted by the Cnom on the doctors, we continued our investigation based on the opinion of around fifty experts, whose anonymity we have chosen to preserve for fear of the sanctions which weighed on them.
In the interest of patients, let’s protect ourselves from the sensationalism of individual rankings of doctors and think about the collective defense of a quality care pathway in hospitals ??! https://t.co/7GeLlTr9ax
In a press release dated May 2, 2023, the inter-union group “Action Praticiens Hôpital” (APH) is annoyed in turn. If the APH “does not question the validity of the methodology of this list or the quality of its winners”, he believes that “it has nothing to do with the quality of care given to patients! “.
Strange paradox. Our methodology – which is not called into question – would therefore have resulted in highlighting the names of winners, whose quality is not called into question… and that would have nothing to do with the care provided to patients. Nothing to see, really?
During our investigation, one thing quickly became apparent. The 1,000 practitioners cited in our pages direct or work within active, trained teams, draining heavy cases, an ideal field of study to feed the scientific studies that will determine the practices of tomorrow. Because that’s what our rankings reflect: the global influence that these experts exert in their specialties through the quality of their work.
As one of our award-winning neurologists told us: “It’s very satisfying when I see that some of my work has led to changes in the international best practice guidelines in my discipline. »
Dr. Philippe Colin wrote in a tweet: “Le Point has just established a ranking of expert doctors. Why publish? This does not make me a better practitioner than others. On the other hand, it allows me to analyze and share my results in order to improve the quality of our care as much as possible. »
Le Point has just established a ranking of expert doctors. Why publish? This does not make me a better practitioner than others. On the other hand, it allows me to analyze and share my results in order to improve the quality of our care as much as possible.
“Good medicine” according to the APH is “a matter of medical competence, scientific knowledge, human relationship, teamwork and networking”. That’s pretty good, the vast majority of the experts in our list (94.3%) work in the departments ranked as the best in the latest list of Le Point hospitals, published in November 2021, before it was censored. by the National Commission for Computing and Liberties (Cnil), refusing us access to the database that allowed us to achieve this list for more than twenty years.
The highly publicized Dr Gérald Kierzek, medical director of the Doctissimo site, judges our work as “disguised advertising” as well as a “de facto denigration of 99% of the doctors who work, relieve, treat but do not publish”. According to him, “the ranking of expert doctors […] misleads and misleads readers and patients”.
We have never claimed to rank the best doctors. We wrote it and of course we say it again without hesitation: you can be an excellent doctor without publishing. So we’re not saying we’ve made the list of “best”, but that they are expert practitioners in their fields, active and trained.
As to whether this is “disguised advertising”, remember that none of the practitioners cited in the list has sought to put themselves forward. This ranking is the result of a long journalistic investigation based on expertise. We worked completely independently, without entering into any agreement with the Ministry of Health or one of its agencies, nor with any professional federation, union, academy, private company or association in the world of health.
The expertise criteria on which our ranking is based are directly inspired by the Sigaps system (Scientific Publication Query, Management and Analysis System) assigned to medical researchers based on the quality of their publications and which allows the Ministry of Health to remunerate public and private healthcare establishments participating in biomedical research. While they’re not perfect, they’re as objective as possible. And this is their greatest strength.
Previously, to find the answer to the simple question “Who among doctors is recognized as a very great expert in their discipline, especially by their peers?” », you had to pick up your phone and have connections. With this first list of doctors from Le Point, the general public now also has the right to know.
Consult our file: The list of expert doctors
