New Web site lets patients check up on doctors

The state has launched a new Web site that lets you research doctors' professional background and see whether they've been disciplined. Physician Profile is accessible from the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation's site at Idfpr.com. Launched Friday, the site has already gotten more than 85,000 hits. You can find out, among other things, where doctors went to school, what insurance they take and whether any legal or disciplinary action has been taken against them in the last five years. You also can compare doctors in the same specialties. The state already provides some of this information online, but the new site is more detailed. Doctors create their own profiles. The state doesn't verify the information given, but "if we were to learn that there was inaccurate or untruthful information, the doctor is subject to disciplinary action," said Sue Hofer, a spokeswoman for the agency. The site now includes information on 44,000 doctors -- more than 85 percent of those licensed in Illinois. Hofer said the rest should have profiles up by July.