MN Physician Groups Rated by Consumer Reports

While that isn't always 100% true, it's true enough, and "says a lot about the kinds of support that these practices provide their patients."

Lyle Swenson, MD, president of the Minnesota Medical Association and a cardiologist in St. Paul, says his group is, in general, "okay with the (Minnesota Community Measurement) process. But it's an interesting twist to have a commercial enterprise like Consumer Reports report on this."

Swenson adds that because the magazine is taking just two treated conditions, diabetes and heart disease, to score on just a few measures, his group has concerns that "it certainly doesn't give the entire picture when patients are trying to make decisions about where they get their care."

Consumer Reports and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation selected Minnesota and Wisconsin for two of the projects because according to a report from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, Minnesota "has the best performing health-care system in the country, just edging out Wisconsin," the magazine article accompanying the scoring list says.

"The same analysis showed that the state (Minnesota) was rated above average in all but one measure of diabetes care, and average or above average for heart disease measures."

Because Minnesota is already a top performer, the article advises patients being cared for by low scoring doctors not to fire them right away.