Blue and burgundy are teaming up.

Zagat, the survey company best known for its burgundy restaurant review guides, is working with Blue Cross of California on a new venture that will allow Blue Cross members to rate their physicians and share their experiences.

The Zagat Survey tool is an online survey for rating doctors' trustworthiness, communication skills, availability and environment. Members will also be able to leave specific comments about their experience.

Los Angeles-area members of the company's consumer-directed health plan, Lumenos, already have access to the survey. Other Blue Cross members in the Greater Los Angeles area, including Ventura County, will have access by April, Blue Cross officials said.

For each physician in the Blue Cross network, an online entry will include contact information, ratings on a 30-point scale for each of four categories, and the percentage of members who recommend the physician. The most recent comments will be displayed first. Users can also rate the usefulness of comments and report suspicious comments.

While other Web sites offer opportunities to rate physicians, the Blue Cross tool will give all members a uniform set of standards with which to rate their experiences, said medical director Dr. Kurt Tamaru of Blue Cross, which serves 8.3 million people in California.

"Zagat has made a name and reputation out of rating the experience in a uniform and standard way," Tamaru said.

The tool also gives members additional information about prospective doctors when they are looking for a new physician, he said, a boost in an increasingly consumer-driven healthcare system.

"Anytime a member goes and picks a doctor, they typically look in a book. Lots of times, you make a blind choice," he said.

The comments and ratings will give consumers more to go on when making those decisions, which can help improve the overall relationship between doctor and patient from the start.

"People make their healthcare decisions based on trust and how they communicate with their provider," Tamaru said.

"A lot of patients have that fear with their first visit," he said. With the survey information in hand, "expectations are better met in that first encounter."

The survey results will show only after at least 10 members have taken a survey for a particular doctor. Comments will appear regardless of the number of survey responses. Users can submit only one survey per physician, but they can also edit or delete their survey at any time.

Physicians will be able to view survey results as well, and use feedback to make adjustments to their practices if they wish based on response, Tamaru said.

"If I'm a physician and I don't believe my rating is showing as good as it could, (the survey) has the potential for empowering those physicians to make changes," he said. "The comments put the ratings into context."

Dr. Hector Flores, a Los Angeles physician who serves patients in the Blue Cross Lumenos plan and thus became one of the first who could be rated, said the survey is a beneficial tool for both patients and physicians.

"For the physicians, it gives us very simple rules we're going to be measured by," he said. "This really gives us a real-time perspective on patients."