Where to Find Top-Rated Doctors For Crohn's Disease

Crohn's disease is a form of inflammatory bowel disease, featuring chronic inflammation and irritation of the digestive tract. Doctors who treat Crohn's disease--called gastroenterologists--are easy to find. Finding top-rated doctors can be a bit more difficult, depending on whether you are looking for doctors rated highly in your community, state, region or nationally.

Community hospitals

• Local community hospitals frequently recruit top names in specific medical fields to maintain quality care in the area. Contact your local community hospital to see if the gastroenterologists on staff have received honors or awards for the care they deliver.

Teaching hospitals

• Search for nearby teaching hospitals for top-rated doctors for Crohn's disease. Teaching hospitals are usually on the cutting edge of science and treatment, and their staff doctors frequently receive high ratings. The Association of American Medical Colleges maintains a list of all teaching hospitals in the United States.

Professional organizations

• Groups that represent a particular medical specialty and the experts who practice within that specialty are great resources to find top-rated doctors. The American College of Gastroenterology and the American Gastroenterological Association both maintain searchable databases to find top-rated gastroenterologists nationwide.

Patient groups

• Some patient groups--such as the Crohn's and Colitis Foundation--offer tools to find top-rated doctors for Crohn's disease. Although individual physician ratings are not available, the foundation attracts top-rated doctors on the leading edge of research and treatment as its members and leaders.

Medical publishers

• Medical publishers, such as Castle Connolly, promote an annual list of top-rated doctors by specialty. With a few clicks of a mouse, you can view a list of top-rated doctors for Crohn's disease, organized by state. These doctors received high ratings from their peers.