Frequently Asked Questionsfor Patients and Others Search Users
- I typed in a medical term and was told 'We did not find an exact match'. What should I do?
- I typed in a medical term and was told that 'No physicians were found' matching my term. Why did this happen?
- How is the list of physicians in the search results generated on ApexMD?
- How are physician profiles created on ApexMD?
- How do you decide the order in which to show physicians in the ApexMD search results?
- Why would I need to see an expert specialist?
- What are the definitions of Specialty, Subspecialty, Area of Concentration and Special Interests on ApexMD?
- How did you decide which medical centers to feature on ApexMD?
- What is a tertiary care medical center? What is an academic medical center? Why does ApexMD focus predominantly on these types of hospitals?
- What geographic regions are covered by ApexMD?
- Why do the results on ApexMD show more than one specialty per disease?
- Does ApexMD verify physician qualifications, credentials and certification?
- I heard about a good doctor to treat my condition but they did not show up in the ApexMD search results. Should I still consult with that doctor?
- Do Physicians have to pay to be listed on ApexMD? Do they pay a referral fee? How do you make money?
- How do physicians become affiliated with specific medical centers on ApexMD?
- How do I make recommendations for specific doctors?
I typed in a medical term and was told 'We did not find an exact match'. What should I do?
Frequently, users receive this error due to a slight mis-spelling of their searched term. The best way to remedy this is to search again by typing the letters slowly. Once you have typed 3 letters our auto-complete system will attempt to guess which condition or procedure you would like to search. Keep adding letters slowly until your searched term or something that is close or equivalent appears in the auto-complete. You can select an auto-complete term by hitting 'Enter' on your keyboard. Our system contains over 8,000 diseases and procedures with an average of 11 different synonyms or different ways to spell or describe each disease. We are constantly adding new diseases, procedures or new and creative synonyms for diseases that we already have in our system and our primary source for new conditions or synonyms is our user base. If you believe that we are missing a condition or synonym please contact us and tell us about it. Top
I typed in a medical term and was told that 'No physicians were found' matching my term. Why did this happen?
You received this error because, based on the search criteria you used limiting your search to either a region or medical center, we do not have any physicians in our database with specialties or subspecialties that are mapped to the condition that you searched. This can happen because the specific medical center that you selected might not have any specialists that are likely to treat the condition you searched. For example, a hospital that focuses primarily on surgery might not have any dermatologists on staff and therefore a search for a dermatological procedure, such as chemical peel, might yield this error message. You might also receive this error message if you selected a region that we have yet to populate with physicians. Due to the depth of information that is required in order to make our search algorithm perform correctly, our physician profiles take time to construct and approve. We are constantly adding new medical centers and physicians to our directory and physicians are coming to ApexMD and completing new profiles daily. Over time, we hope to have broad geographic coverage around the US so please check back again soon as we are adding new medical centers and physicians frequently. Top
How is the list of physicians in the search results generated on ApexMD?
See our How Does it Work? section on our FAQs main page for a complete description of the ApexMD search process. Top
How are physician profiles created on ApexMD?
Physicians are the source of their own profiles, either directly by creating a profile on ApexMD or indirectly by publishing a biography on their medical center website, which is then crawled by the ApexMD crawling engine. ApexMD analyzes the medical training, board certification, NPI Registry data (National Provider Identifier) and self-reported areas of concentration and special interests of physicians to classify them and place them into a standard format which is consistent across medical centers and regions. This consistent categorization of physicians is what enables ApexMD to produce consistent and uniform search results across medical centers and within regions. For more information about how our search engine works see the How Does it Work? section on our FAQs main page. Top
How do you decide the order in which to show physicians in the ApexMD search results?
In the ApexMD search results, physicians are grouped by specialty and ordered within their specialty by Match Score, from highest to lowest. For information on how our Match Scores are generated see the How Does it Work? section on our FAQs main page. When there is a tie of Match Scores then the physicians with the same score are presented in alphabetical order by last name. Top
Why would I need to see an expert specialist?
Patients with rare diseases, potentially lethal acute or disabling chronic conditions should seek the opinion of an expert specialist. A second opinion is a standard procedure to which every patient is entitled. It makes perfect sense to seek out the latest opinions of the experts in the field when life or well-being is at stake. Due to continuous advances in science and technology, the state of the art treatment today may be better than it was yesterday and it is extremely difficult for all but the most specifically-focused physicians to keep up with the burgeoning medical literature on any given condition or procedure.
Empowered patients do their own research and seek the opinions of friends, on-line community participants and medically knowledgeable acquaintances in order to find the best specialist for their specific problem. The ApexMD search engine can, and should, be used in conjunction with traditional word-of-mouth approaches, whether it be off-line or on-line, to improve the speed and efficiency of the referral process. Top
What are the definitions of Specialty, Subspecialty, Area of Concentration and Special Interests on ApexMD?
Please note that ApexMD is not a credentialing system and makes no claim as to the abilities, credentials, specialties, subspecialties or any particular special interests of any physician listed on ApexMD.com or in our search results. Always check with your hospital or the doctor directly to confirm their qualifications prior to seeking medical treatment. For information about physician board certification visit the American Board of Medical Specialties.
Specialty: After 4 years of medical school most physicians go on to residency training in a specialty. Accredited programs are full-time and last from 3-5 years and lead to board-eligibility, which means that the physician can take an examination to become “board certified” in the specialty. The American Board of Medical Specialties (ABMS) certifies physicians in 145 specialties and subspecialties. Visit the ABMS website for more information about the services ABMS provides. Physicians on ApexMD are categorized by specialty and this is generally, though not always, indicative of the completion of a residency, fellowship or board certification in the given specialty. Some subspecialties of Internal Medicine and Pediatrics are so important and separate from their parent specialties that we at ApexMD have decided to go with common parlance and describe them as specialties too -- cardiology, endocrinology and gastroenterology are examples.
Subspecialty or Area of Concentration: After specialty training in a residency, physicians can elect to continue on to subspecialty training for an additional 1-3 years. Subspecialty training may lead to ABMS certification but many subspecialties do not have ABMS member board certification processes and thus there is a wide variation in the application of standard exams and accreditation programs across subspecialties. Within specialties, sometimes physicians pursue further specialization that does not necessarily require a dedicated training program. Some institutions may offer formal training where others provide on-the-job training. Also some physicians tailor their practices to fit into a niche. These various pathways occur commonly at academic medical centers. We at ApexMD call these niche subspecialties, ‘areas of concentration’, and we group them within our subspecialty category for ease of presentation. An example of an area of concentration would be the focus on 'breast cancer' within the specialty of medical oncology, or 'inflammatory bowel disease' within gastroenterology.
Special Interests: Special Interests are generally specific diseases or procedures for which the physician has indicated a focus within their practice either on their publicly available biography or by visiting ApexMD and indicating special interests on their ApexMD profile. For example, a doctor with a specialty in Neurology and a subspecialty of Vascular Neurology might indicate a special interest in the condition 'stroke'. A subsequent search by a user on ApexMD for 'stroke' would indicate this doctor as being highly likely to be relevant for stroke. There is a dilutive effect to a doctor listing a large number of special interests either directly on ApexMD or on another online biography that ApexMD has crawled. All other things being equal, a physician with dozens of special interest will earn approximately the same Match Score for each of their special interest conditions or procedures as a colleague that indicated no special interests. Top
How did you decide which medical centers to feature on ApexMD?
At ApexMD, we have focused predominantly on profiling physicians at tertiary care and academic medical centers. The medical centers featured on our site comprise the majority of hospitals on the lists of top medical centers as presented in rankings such as those in the US News and World Report list of top hospitals. Top
What is a tertiary care medical center? What is an academic medical center? Why does ApexMD focus predominantly on these types of hospitals?
According to Wikipedia, "In medicine, tertiary healthcare is specialized consultative care, usually on referral from primary or secondary medical care personnel, by specialists working in a center that has personnel and facilities for special investigation and treatment." Academic medical centers are hospitals attached to medical schools and/or providing specialist physician training. Research, in the form of clinical trials, is common in the academic medical centers and tertiary care centers. Most academic medical centers typically serve the role of tertiary care center for the surrounding community. However, there are many tertiary care centers, some of which are featured on ApexMD, that are not academic medical centers or directly affiliated with a medical school. ApexMD has chosen to focus on profiling doctors at these centers because, due to the nature of these centers, physicians at these hospitals are able and encouraged to become highly specialized or subspecialized on one particular disease or area of emphasis within a specialty. These physicians can often be the best source for insight or a second opinion, particularly for rare or difficult to treat conditions. There are many highly specialized physicians that focus on one or a small number of procedures, particularly surgical procedures, that are not affilated with a tertiary care or academic medical center. We hope, in time, to add physicians from these non-tertiary care medical centers that are focused on specific procedures and we hope that in the meantime these physicians will come to ApexMD themselves and complete a profile. Top
What geographic regions are covered by ApexMD?
We intend to cover all regions of the United States with at least one medical center in each region by the end of 2009. We currently have no plans to profile physicians practicing outside of the United States. Top
Why do the results on ApexMD show more than one specialty per disease?
Some specialties are organized around a part of the body (e.g.: otolaryngology is a specialty dedicated to the head and neck region) others are organized around a process (like cancer or infectious diseases). So most of the time, there will be some overlap. Two specialists might take care of the same problem in a similar way (like orthopedic spine surgeons and neurosurgical spine surgeons) or they might address the same problem in entirely different ways (medical oncologists, surgical oncologists and radiation oncologists all take care of breast cancer from different angles).
It is not uncommon for patients with rare or serious medical conditions to see more than one specialist for different aspects of the disease. Every specialty and subspecialty does have a body of knowledge and procedural proficiency which has been described by the respective medical boards and the ACGME (Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education). ApexMD is inclusive. If the training for a specialty is expected, by the established standards and guidelines, to cover a specific condition or procedure, then that specialty should appear on a search for that condition or procedure. Top
Does ApexMD verify physician qualifications, credentials and certification?
ApexMD does not verify qualifications, credentials or certifications of any physician listed on ApexMD.com. Always check with your hospital or the doctor directly to confirm their qualifications prior to seeking medical treatment. The physician profiles on ApexMD frequently provide a link to the physician's biography at the medical center where they are affiliated. These biographies occasionally contain information regarding board certifications. You can verify board certification for specific physicians by searching at the American Board of Medical Specialties website. To check if your physician has received any state medical board disciplinary actions, you can visit the website of the Federation of State Medical Boards and get a report for a fee. Many state medical boards provide free reports of disciplinary actions against any physicians licensed in that state. Top
I heard about a good doctor to treat my condition but he/she did not show up in the ApexMD search results. Should I still consult with that doctor?
ApexMD presents lists of physician that are likely to be relevant for any searched condition or procedure based upon training or declared special interests. ApexMD is not inclusive and there are many other physicians not presented on ApexMD that are likely to be relevant for any particular condition or procedure. ApexMD is designed to "put you in the right ball park" when it comes to finding a physician that is relevant for your condition and is expected to be complimentary, not a replacement, to the consultation with your primary care physician, the word-of-mouth process or other online patient community sites. ApexMD can provide a good starting place for those patients or referring physicians who have no other source of information for determining which physician to consult for a specific disease. ApexMD offers suggestions as to doctors that are likely to address a specific disease or procedure but you should always check with the hospital or the doctor directly in order to determine their qualifications or relevance for a particular disease or procedure. ApexMD makes no attempt to recommend the "best" doctor. We believe that the "best" doctor in any given situation is subjective and the best doctor for one person may not be the best doctor for another person. A physician might be more correct for one person versus another person depending on the personal significance a patient places on communication skills, openness to patient research information, receptiveness to alternative medicine, technical proficiency, access to clinical trials, and so on. Some physicians will be great at communication and others will be great at technical procedures and different patients will weigh those strengths differently. Top
Do Physicians have to pay to be listed on ApexMD? Do they pay a referral fee? How do you make money?
Physicians do not have to pay to be listed on ApexMD nor can they pay in order to generate a higher Match Score for themselves against any disease or procedure. Physician can list a profile for free. Physicians do not pay a referral fee for any consultation or appointment that is made as a result of a search on ApexMD. We make money through targeted advertisements that are customized to each disease or procedure. These advertisements generally appear across the top or right side or our search results and are clearly marked as sponsorships, advertisements or Ads by Google. Top
How do physicians become affiliated with specific medical centers on ApexMD?
We confirm affiliation with a medical center through a biography listing on the medical center website doctor directory. In other words, a physician MUST BE LISTED in the online doctor directory for any medical center for which they wish to have an affiliation on ApexMD. Top
How do I make recommendations for specific doctors?
In order to recommend a physician on ApexMD, you must first search for a specific disease or procedure. You may want to narrow your search to a specific medical center if you are looking to recommend a certain doctor. You must locate the doctor you want to recommend in the search results (you may have to scroll through more than one page of results) and then click their profile in order to make the recommendation. Remember, at ApexMD, doctor recommendations are done on a disease-specific basis. However, your recommendation will appear as part of the doctor's profile regardless of the disease that is searched by subsequent users but the doctor's profile will only be red-starred for the disease that you recommended. Top
