How MedToGo Selects Physicians for its Guidebooks
First, it is important to note that no physician, hospital, or business entity standing to benefit from our listing has paid to be in our guidebooks. The selection process for a MedToGo physician is completely objective and is done with the best interest of the patient/traveler in mind.
Our research began by making contact with the U.S. and Canadian expatriate communities. Embassies and consulates from both countries were often helpful resources, as were retired expatriates with years of experience with the local medical system. Finally, after concluding our hospital selection, we consulted with the Hospital and Medical Directors, who rewarded their best doctors with this recommendation.
We noticed that, in most small Mexican towns, the same 8-9 physicians’ names would surface on several occasions. The selection process is therefore not so complicated. In larger cities, however, there is a greater pool of doctors from which to choose, and we interviewed a number of candidates in our search for well-qualified physicians.
Each individual physician interview was conducted in English. Physicians that did not speak working English were automatically disqualified. Another determining factor in our selection was a doctor’s affiliation with the top two or three hospitals in the city, as it ensures that a doctor will have access to the best medical facilities and personnel available in each town. We also sought doctors who had received training from the best Mexican, U.S., Canadian, and European institutions.
Other relevant factors were physicians dedicated to continuing medical education, physicians with teaching and research experience, physicians who were members and fellows of various medical societies, a physician’s bedside manner, and of course, physicians who had the confidence of their hospitals and peers to have been elected to oversee an aspect of hospital affairs.
Another requisite was the doctor’s credentialing. Each physician was asked to provide a copy of his or her medical license(s), which were then verified through the Mexican Secretary of Health. We also requested copies of their valid board certifications.
In referral cities we tried to minimize the number of doctors we included who lacked a valid board certification. Certification is not yet obligatory in Mexico, however, and finding doctors in smaller towns with valid board certifications was the exception, rather than the norm. Here we did make certification a preference; however, if a physician was not certified but had several qualities and strengths that outweighed this, we would include that candidate’s profile in our guide.
Finally, we verified doctor certifications with the aid of Mexico’s Comité Normativo Nacional de Consejos de Especialidades Médicas (The National Standards Committee on Medical Specialist Boards).
