Introducing Health Care Quarterly’s Top Doctors for 2018

By Craig Peterson

Monday, May 21, 2018 | 2:05 a.m.

Any time you have the chance to make more educated decisions about you or your family’s health, you should take advantage of it.

Health Care Quarterly is proud to bring you its 2018 Top Doctors. We’ve done the research and legwork, mailing surveys to approximately 6,000 doctors, dentists and medical professionals in Southern Nevada. What follows on these pages are the names of specialists who have been recommended by their peers.

What was the survey?

It wouldn’t be out of the ordinary for you to ask your general practitioner for a referral to another doctor. To compile this list, we did that thousands of times. We invited doctors to fill out a confidential survey, asking for their recommendations in the specialties we listed. Our logic: Local doctors are the most qualified to judge other medical professionals in Southern Nevada. It was not necessary for the respondents to offer a name in each specialty.

Who got the survey?

We got our list of names from state boards for doctors, osteopaths and dentists. Those who have a Southern Nevada mailing address on file with either of those agencies received a survey earlier this year.

So, is this a list of every doctor who was nominated?

This is a list of doctors who were nominated multiple times, checked against records with state medical boards, to ensure that all are in good standing.

Why isn’t my doctor listed?

This list is by no means a complete one; there are many excellent doctors in Southern Nevada, and there are many different ways to define a “top doctor.” If you like your doctors, you should probably continue seeing them — and remind them to keep an eye out for next year’s survey!

I’m a doctor but I didn’t get my survey in the mail. How come?

We do the best we can on our end to ensure that the letters arrive at the proper addresses. Using the information we get from state medical boards, we cross reference that with postal records. After that process, however, a number of obstacles could prevent the letter from reaching your hands. For instance, the post office could deem the letter undeliverable (missing suite address or incomplete information).

Does that mean this list is nothing but a popularity contest?

We encourage the doctors to give some thought to their answers, but we have no way of enforcing it. Doctors will answer with the names of the colleagues they know and trust. Doctors who have been in the community longer and who have more established practices may have received more nominations because they have better name recognition. That being said, we believe that the volume of respondents helps cancel out any politics that influenced their answers.

Can doctors vote more than once?

No. Participants are given a unique code that our system tracks. Duplicates are invalidated.

Why are some medical specialties left off the list?

This is our eighth annual list of “Top Doctors,” and it’s still evolving. We’re always happy to hear suggestions about how to refine the process. Still, we occasionally encounter specialties that don’t work within the framework of our methodology. Take emergency room physicians, for instance. While we understand that you want the finest doctor possible, our survey is based on answering the question “Doctor, whom would you recommend I see?” It’s a question that makes sense for the majority of medical situations, but not when going to an emergency room. In no way should it be considered a slight against the people who have to move fast to save lives on a daily basis.

Tell the truth: Did doctors pay to be included in the list?

Nope. Doctors did not pay to be mentioned. After the list is compiled by the editorial team, sales begins its job. Doctors may choose to advertise, but that has no bearing on the list.