New Jersey ranks first in the nation for providing the best information on its doctors through the Internet, according to a study released Wednesday by consumer advocacy group Public Citizen, the New York Times reports. For the study, Public Citizen examined states’ physician licensing board Web sites, which provide individual physician information including general profiles, malpractice judgments and disciplinary actions. Each site was rated according to eight criteria. New Jersey scored 83.7 out of 100 possible points, followed by Virginia, Massachusetts and New York. North Dakota ranked last, and several states had scores below 20, according to the study (Perez-Pena, New York Times, 10/18). Public Citizen commended the New Jersey State Board of Medical Examiners’ Web site, which provides profiles of the state’s nearly 30,000 licensed physicians and includes detailed information on medical malpractice payments, hospital disciplinary actions and conviction information (Layton, Bergen Record, 10/18). Many other states that were successful in some areas failed to list such information. Nearly all states failed to list disciplinary actions by federal agencies (New York Times, 10/18). Peter Lurie, deputy director of Public Citizen’s Health Research Group, said, “The current mantra in health care is consumer choice. But there can be no meaningful consumer choice if critical information is denied to patients” (Bergen Record, 10/18).