NOTE: THIS YEAR’S SURVEY OF MEDICAL DOCTORS. NURSES & PHYSICIAN ASSISTANTS HAS CLOSED.

Now in its 17th year, Portland Monthly’s annual peer survey for medical providers is bigger than ever. The survey, open now through August 31, is split into two parts; one open to MDs, osteopaths, podiatrists, registered nurses, and physician assistants to name the doctors, nurse practitioners, and physician assistants they would turn to if they or a member of their family needed care; and another survey that puts the same question to a variety of other providers, from naturopaths and acupuncturists to psychologists and clinical social workers. Learn more about both surveys and find the links to them here. And know that the survey is a time commitment, so please don’t begin it unless you know you’ll be able to complete it in one sitting. On the survey that requires a login, you will not be able to log in again. 

In the doctor/nurse/PA survey, providers log in with their license number and can nominate up to four names in any or all of 78 specialties. Survey takers should read the instructions on the welcome page and in the survey itself to get tips on finding the name you’re looking for in the drop-down menu that will appear on the nomination form. If you don’t see the name you’re looking for, make sure you have the correct first and last name as they appear in Oregon Medical Board or Oregon State Board of Nursing records, or try a middle initial or middle name if the first and last names are a common combination.

What if you don't see the specialty you’re looking for? We get suggestions every year of specialties to add or nix, and we put these questions to a panel of providers that convenes after the survey ends, so the lineup sometimes changes a bit. You’re welcome to email suggestions for additions to next year’s survey to [email protected] In the meantime, please nominate the provider in a related or overarching category. We’re able to pool votes across categories when we do the tally, and a person’s total number of votes is what matters.

In the survey for naturopaths, complementary medicine providers, and mental health professionals, providers in those fields enter their practice information and can nominate up to four names in each category. The mental health professional categories appear on the second page. This survey has no drop-down menus, and participants simply enter a first and last name. To make sure your votes count, please confirm names before you type them. This is the first year a survey has included mental health professionals who are not MDs, NPs, or PAs. The deadline to fill out this survey is September 7.

Portland Monthly also publishes an annual list of top dental care providers in the area. We do not conduct a survey of our own for that; rather, we receive a list from USA Top Dentists, which conducts its own surveys for metro areas across the country. 

This process is far from perfect. People who work for large organizations with many colleagues who are familiar with their records certainly have a leg up, especially if those organizations have communications staffs reminding people to vote. We ask that survey takers think beyond their immediate surroundings when they are pondering nominees. We also ask that people credentialed in more than one licensing category take a survey only once. If you are both a certified nurse midwife and a naturopathic doctor, for example, you may take each survey one time. If you are both a licensed acupuncturist and a licensed massage therapist, however, please take the complementary medicine provider survey only one time. Like anyone else, you may nominate up to four names in any field, not eight. 

Our final vetted, fact-checked list of providers and their workplaces, as well as the dental care list, will run in our Winter 2020–21 issue, which should hit newsstands around Thanksgiving. To search our directory of the current year’s list of top medical providers, click here.