[kletinic]

Agree with most of what you said, except the first sentence. You sound like a physician (and I'm one too, and a data scientist). We take into account all those factors, including relevant procedures/regimens, research activities, quality measures etc. in an extremely granular, disease-specific manner. We don't survey physicians, because that is easily manipulated and it's subjective. Instead, we model nationwide referral network to discover authorities. Thanks for feedback.