Zagat Survey, the guide known for its ratings of restaurants, nightlife, hotels and other attractions, is adding doctors’ offices to its list. Zagat has partnered with WellPoint Inc. to allow consumers to rate their physicians.
WellPoint, the parent company of Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield, in October launched an online survey tool using Zagat’s technology, allowing its nearly 35 million members to rate network doctors on trust, communication, availability and environment.
For each network physician, the online entry will display contact information, ratings on a 30-point scale for each of the four categories, and the percentage of members who recommend that physician. The survey will also feature a comments section.
Hedging a hot bet
Global warming’s higher temperatures have coatmakers sweating, to the tune of $10 million per season.
Last October, gearing up for the pitch of the pre-Christmas winterwear season, Weatherproof Garment Co. president Freddie Stollmack and chief executive Eliot Peyser decided that after 2006 — the warmest year on record in the United States — they needed to insure their coat sales against 60-degree December days.
They called in Storm Exchange Inc., which offers a “weather hedge” against unseasonal temperatures.
“It literally pays if the weather is bad,” said Storm Exchange chief strategy officer Paul Walsh. “We put a value on the changing weather in relationship to sales.”
Weatherproof deemed the winter-weather risk to its sales to be up to $10 million. If temperatures throughout November and December, the prime full-price retail season, rose a certain amount above average, Storm Exchange would have to start paying up.
Winter stayed blustery in 2007. But the company plans to keep up the insurance.
Too much work, too little play
Americans have a reputation for workaholism. But they’re not necessarily enjoying it, according to a new survey.
Almost two-thirds of those polled said they often worked after their official day was done. Only 14 percent said they never or infrequently worked after hours.
Moreover, the survey found that 70 percent of respondents did not feel they had a proper balance of work life and personal life, and blamed their companies for the problem.
The survey, a random online poll of 522 people who visited MRINetwork’s website, was conducted by the company over two weeks this fall.
Denver Post staff and wire reports
