Most patients research their doctor the same way they research a restaurant, they Google it, skim the reviews, and hope for the best.
But online reviews can't tell you if your doctor has been disciplined by the medical board. They can't tell you their complication rates, their readmission rates, or whether other physicians in your community are quietly steering patients away from them. And the data that could tell you all of that? Most of it is locked behind laws that prevent the public from ever seeing it.
In this episode of AdvoKAYte: Holding Healthcare Accountable, host Kay Van Wey sits down with Chad Erickson and Barry Howell two experienced healthcare administrators who have worked inside hospitals and large physician practice groups for an honest conversation about what patients can and cannot find out about their doctors, and what they built to start closing that gap.
Chad and Barry are the founders of Texas Best Docs, a platform designed to give patients and physicians access to factual, objective information about providers, starting with Texas Medical Board actions, without the noise of pay-to-play directories or anonymous reviews.
In this episode, they discuss:
Why Google reviews are one of the worst ways to evaluate a physician
What Texas Best Docs is, how it works, and how it's different from pay-to-play directories
What the Texas Medical Board actually tracks and what its limitations are
Why a clean record on the medical board does not necessarily mean a doctor is good
The data that hospitals collect on every physician and why patients can never see it
What the National Practitioner Data Bank is and why it is off limits to the public
How to use CMS hospital data to make more informed decisions about your care
The best advice two healthcare insiders have for patients choosing a doctor
DocWatch: how to get alerted when your doctor has a new Texas Medical Board action
One of the most striking moments in this conversation is Kay's description of the data that exists inside every hospital, infection rates, complication rates, return-to-OR rates, and the reality that patients will almost certainly never have access to it. As Kay puts it, doctors have a right to privacy, but patients have a right to know if the surgeon they are about to trust has a pattern of outcomes that other surgeons do not.
Kay also explores the uncomfortable truth that even people who work inside the healthcare system, administrators, practice executives, physicians themselves, struggle to get reliable information about the doctors they credential, hire, and refer patients to. The transparency problem is not just a patient problem. It is an industry-wide problem that nobody has fully solved.
But this episode is not about making patients afraid to see their doctors.
It is about building a healthcare system where:
Patients have access to real, objective information about their providers
Online directories reflect facts, not marketing budgets
Physicians are held accountable through data, not just reputation
Transparency is treated as a patient right, not a liability risk
Because you cannot make an informed decision about your care with information you are never allowed to see.
At Van Wey & Metzler Law Firm in Dallas, Texas, Kay Van Wey and her team advocate for families affected by:
Medical malpractice
Hospital negligence
Birth injuries
Surgical errors
Preventable medical harm
Unsafe healthcare systems
Listen to more episodes of AdvoKAYte: Holding Healthcare Accountable: https://www.vanweylaw.com/advokayte-podcasts/ Learn more about Van Wey & Metzler Law Firm: https://www.vanweylaw.com/ Subscribe for conversations about: Patient safety, healthcare accountability, medical malpractice, hospital governance, physician burnout, peer review, medical ethics, hospital leadership, and patient advocacy.
Thanks!
What is AdvoKAYte: Holding Healthcare Accountable?
Most people first heard of Kay Van Wey through the shocking true story of Dr. Death—the infamous Dallas neurosurgeon who maimed and killed patients. Kay stood up to him and the system that enabled him, fighting for the people whose lives he shattered. That case made headlines around the world, but for Kay, it was never about the spotlight. It was about the patients—the mothers, fathers, daughters, and sons—who deserved answers, justice, and dignity.
Now, on AdvoKAYte: Holding Healthcare Accountable, Kay brings that same passion to a new mission: exposing a healthcare system that too often puts profits ahead of patient safety.
With more than 40 years of experience as a medical malpractice attorney, Kay has seen firsthand the devastating impact of preventable medical errors—and uncovered their root causes. She calls out dangerous physicians, profit-driven hospitals, fraudulent schemes, and a system designed to keep patients in the dark.
A lawsuit against a negligent provider can bring justice for the victims, but Kay is fighting for something bigger. She will always stand with individuals and families harmed by medical errors—but she is on a mission to reform the broken healthcare system that is vital to all of us... patients.
This podcast is about more than cases—it’s about change. Patients need a voice. Their voices must be amplified—so loudly and so clearly—that politicians can no longer ignore them. Only then can we demand accountability, reform the system, and make healthcare safer for everyone.
Because as Kay learned from Dr. Death—and countless other cases—the problems are fixable. What’s missing is the will to fix them. And that starts here.
Knowledge is power. Strength comes in numbers. It’s time for patients to matter more than profits—and for preventable medical errors to end.
