Thanks to our 179 Model Healers, Charm City
is still the best place to get sick.

By Ken Iglehart, Bruce Goldfarb, and HopeTarr/
Photography by David Colwell

Face it, finding the best physician was a challenge even before managed care. But now picture this: HMOs compel many physicians to schedule more patients per hour, to cut short the chatter, avoid expensive tests, and so on.

Is there still a "Top Doc" in the house?

The answer, of course, is yes. There are lots of them, physicians who have found ways to deal with HMO second-guessing, extra paperwork, and cutbacks in reimbursement. They’re doctors who put the patient first, stay abreast of technology, and nurture the strong staffs on which they rely.

In this 1997 search, we surveyed 2,000 physicians, and also asked them for the names of young physicians who will be at the top of their fields in the coming years. Then we asked for a second opinion from Baltimore’s panel of consulting experts, comprised of Dr. Leeds Katzen, chief of ophthalmology at Mercy Medical Center; two-time Top Doc and University of Maryland plastic surgery division head Dr. Nelson Goldberg; Hopkins pediatric urologist Dr. Steven Docimo; and downtown dentist Dr. David Querido. By volunteering their time, our consulting physicians disqualified themselves as Top Doc candidates.

In addition, we vetted our list with the Board of Physician Quality Assurance’s Roderick Clark, Sandra Burchette, and Yvette McCloud, just to be extra safe.

The prognosis for our Top Docs? They’re real people, after all, and rumors of the death of medical quality and bedside manner are greatly exaggerated. Despite the economics of medicine in the ’90s, both traditions are alive and well and thriving in Baltimore.

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