From licensing, to legal actions, to other patient’s opinions, you can learn quite a bit about the quality of service and skill levels of doctors from the Internet. If you research a doctor online, you’ll want to be sure your findings will be as impartial as possible. Here are some guidelines for doing so.

Some doctors develop Web sites for themselves or their practices. These sites may be useful for finding business hours or a map to the office, but not objective information about quality or skill level. For that information, you’ll need to look elsewhere.

Many quality-focused Web sites provide background information in directory formats, featuring thousands of doctors. The State Health Department directory, NYDoctorProfile.com, offers background information about doctors’ licenses, education, credentials, which hospitals offer them privileges, what languages are translated in their offices, and any disciplinary actions taken against them. Be advised that the information is not always current.

Web directories developed by private companies may include ratings based on opinions in addition to facts. Sites such as HealthGrades.com and MDNationwide.org include results from surveys sent to doctors asking them what other doctors they would see if they were sick themselves. Those results are reflected in their ratings.

DrScore.com, RevolutionHealth.com or RateMDs.com are examples of sites that invite patients to rate the experience they’ve had with any doctor they’ve visited. But don’t forget, doctors can rate themselves, too -- as can their spouses, associates, even competitors, none of whom are considered objective. Further, patients tend to provide opinions when they are dissatisfied with their treatment, so these ratings may be skewed.

Review the policies of any doctor quality Web directories. If a doctor can pay to be listed, may advertise on the site, or is even allowed to edit a listing before it is posted, then the information cannot be considered objective.

Some ratings Web sites may require you to pay a fee to obtain the information they offer. As long as you know they are credible, then paying the fee is acceptable. They are in business to be profitable, but using doctors as their revenue source could compromise their objectivity. Asking patients to pay to obtain the information they want makes better sense.