On Oct. 19, 2011, the Physician Profile website, which is maintained by the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation (IDFPR) went live. 

The website, which can be found at www.idfpr.com/applications/professionprofile/default.aspx, includes specific information about physicians who are licensed in Illinois. For example, the Physician Profile website includes the physician’s location and general area of practice, the type of insurance accepted by the physician, the physician’s educational background, a list of any specialty certifications held by the physician, a list of the physician’s professional activities and honors, and a list of any legal or disciplinary actions taken against the physician.

The Physician Profile website takes the place of a prior physician profile website, which had been available between 2008 and 2010, but which was removed as part of a court decision in Illinois. According to a press release issued Oct. 19, 2011 by the IDFPR, the previous physician profile website averaged over 150,000 hits each week by more than 42,000 different visitors.   

The new Physician Profile website is the result of the Illinois Patients’ Right to Know Act, which was reported on the Barnes & Thornburg Healthcare Blog on Aug. 16, 2011.  According to the IDFPR, as of the go-live date more than 85 percent of all licensed physicians have provided the information necessary to create or update their profiles.

The general goal of the Physician Profile website is to provide information to consumers to allow them to make informed decisions in selecting physicians.