August 15, 2008 08:30 AM Eastern Time 

Cincinnati Academy of Medicine Selects YourCity.MD as Preferred Partner for Online Doctor Rating and Patient Satisfaction System

CINCINNATI--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The Academy of Medicine of Cincinnati, the largest county medical society in Ohio, announced today that it has selected YourCity.MD LLC, with 450 city and state-specific online health sites, as a preferred partner for online physician rating and patient feedback, and other physician tools and services.

YourCity.MD operates 12 city sites in Ohio, including www.Cincinnati.MD, which allows consumers to search for medical information, healthcare providers (doctors, nursing homes, hospitals) and other services specific to their city or region.

“There is a growing movement for patients to rate doctors and give feedback on the Internet. We felt that we needed a partner that allowed our physicians to review and respond to negative feedback and resolve any issues at an early stage, which has shown to reduce malpractice risk,” said Bruce Haskin, Executive Director of the Academy of Medicine of Cincinnati. “We also like that Cincinnati.MD is an independent rating system, not tied to any insurance company.”

The current Academy President pointed out that YourCity.MD sets itself apart by being a strong advocate not only for patients, but also for physicians. “We found the program to be a more sophisticated, compelling and useful tool for practice assessment, patient safety and physician welfare. Other rating sites don’t have good systems in place to filter out malicious content, but YourCity.MD certainly does,” said Dr. David Wiltse.

Academy President-Elect Dr. Stephen Blatt agreed, noting that “YourCity.MD encourages physician input on the satisfaction surveys and creates a system of ‘checks and balances’ to ensure a constructive rating experience.”

Academy of Medicine members will also be able to receive valuable services as part of their listing on Cincinnati.MD, such as the free posting of photos, bios and links to their office/practice Web sites. “We believe that all of our members, and especially younger physicians, will find Cincinnati.MD an important way to promote and grow their practice through local ‘word of mouth’ and online visibility,” added Haskin.

“We are honored to be selected as the preferred online rating and patient satisfaction source for the Academy of Medicine in Cincinnati. We’ve worked hard to make our health sites fair for the medical community, while affording patients a way to share their experiences with their doctors, friends and family,” said Joe Benza, founder and CEO of YourCity.MD.

About YourCity.MD

Founded on the principle that healthcare is and should be local, YourCity.MD LLC is healthcare’s trusted local navigation system, helping consumers in 450 cities and states not only find medical content, but linking information directly to the appropriate local healthcare resource or local provider to solve a medical problem. Easy to find with its city-specific domain names with the .MD extension, YourCity.MD helps consumers translate medical content into actionable information. For more information, visit www.YourCity.MD or type in your local city name with the new .MD top level domain (TLD) Internet extension.

About the Academy of Medicine of Cincinnati

The Academy of Medicine (Hamilton County Medical Society), founded in 1857, is a not-for-profit, professional association for the physicians of Hamilton County, Ohio. The mission of the Academy of Medicine is to advance the practice of medicine and promote optimal health for citizens of Greater Cincinnati through education, advocacy, and communication.

The Academy offers several membership options and is affiliated at the state level with the Ohio State Medical Association (OSMA). For more information, visit www.academyofmedicine.org.