Doctor, if this wereyourmother, who would you send her to? Its aquery physicians often hear when they inform the adult child of an elderly parent or a patients spouse, mother, father or sibling that they are referring a relative for care.

The question, of course, reflects the desire to ensure that our loved ones are being diagnosed and treated by highly skilled practitioners. When we want to find the top doctors in aparticular specialty, we ask the people in a position to know best their fellow physicians.

So does Castle Connolly Top Doctors.

Each year for a quarter of a century, Castle Connolly has consulted tens of thousands of physicians across America to obtain their confidential recommendations regarding the Top Doctors in their specialty and region. Those nominations are the first step in a rigorous vetting process described in further detail below a process overseen by the physicians who lead the Castle Connolly research staff.

Physicians cannot pay to be designated a Top Doctor by Castle Connolly. Neither can they nominate themselves. Selection is a matter of meritocracy, pure and (in terms of the steps involved) not-so-simple.

The result is a thoroughly reliable list of Top Doctors that consumers can consult when seeking nearby physicians in various specialties. As in years past, Jerseys Best has partnered with Castle Connolly to provide readers with information on dozens of doctors across the Garden State who have been recommended by their peers and who have met Castle Connollys exacting criteria.

Those criteria are used to evaluate not only physicians professional qualifications, professionalreputationand disciplinary history, but also their interpersonal skills, such as communication, empathy and trustworthiness.

What Does It TakeToGetToTheTop?

While accolades abound in our status-conscious society, physicians recognize that selection as a Top Doctor by Castle Connolly is a hard-won, highly credible honor. As Joseph Feuerstein, MD, a board-certified family medicine physician and integrative medicine specialist who has made the list, noted, The Castle Connolly recognition in medicine is considered by physicians to be the only legitimate recognized category of excellence in American medicine.

The effort to identify physicians who merit that recognition begins with Castle Connolly sending out an annual survey asking thousands of licensed medical doctors (MDs) and doctors of osteopathy (DOs) across the United States to nominate their peers for consideration.

The process is anonymous and confidential. Each invitee is assigned a unique access code to the nomination website to ensure that doctors do not nominate themselves.Hospital presidents,CEOsand vice presidents of medical affairs at hospitals nationwide also are invited to take part in nominating doctors. Further, Castle Connolly communicates with hospitals marketing departments to publicize the annual survey and encourage participation.

In New Jersey, 2,229 distinct doctors received 5,413 nominations.

After a doctor has been nominated, Castle Connollys physician-led research teams evaluate the practitioner in terms of:

Once selected and approved by Castle Connollys editors, chief medical officer, chief research officer and research staff, each Top Doctor submits a comprehensive, professional biography.

Doctors Need Periodic Check-Ups, Too

Castle Connollys Top Doctors list is updated annually. It also can be revised in between those yearly updates if a physicians status should change. However, a doctors removal from a Castle Connolly list does not necessarily indicate something negative about the physician.

Reasons for removal include:

Similarly, while a Castle Connolly Top Doctors list is quite comprehensive, it does not encompass every excellent physician in the area or specialty covered. Rather, the list is apowerful tool patientscan use as they pursue the best care available. In addition to consulting the Top Doctors list, health care consumers also should weigh factors including:

According to the Association of American Medical Colleges, more than 27,000 physicians were practicing in New Jersey in 2018, the last year for which statistics are available. Roughly one in three of those clinicians 8,705, to be exact was a primary care physician, while the rest practiced in specialties such as allergy/immunology, cardiology, dermatology, endocrinology, gastroenterology, oncology,orthopaedicsurgery, psychiatry, pulmonology and more.

New Jersey residents are fortunate to have many options when seeking medical care. Jerseys Best is proud to provide this years list of Castle Connolly Top Doctors to help readers find the physician who is tops for them. To see if your doctor is on the powerhouse list, click here (starts on page J88). To find a Top Doctor near you, click here.

Original post:
Top Doctors of N.J.: Meet the physicians who have achieved 'excellence in medicine' - Jersey's Best