INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Customers of business-rating service Angie's List can now assess physicians, dentists, pharmacies and health insurers by using grades A to F in several categories.

The Indianapolis-based company, with about 600,000 members nationwide, built its business by providing a forum for its customers to rate painters, roofers and other services. Access to angieslist.com costs $59 a year, with a $15 sign-up fee.

Its new feature allows members to share their real-life experiences with local doctors and other health providers by grading them on everything from the cleanliness of waiting rooms to a physician's bedside manner.

Angie's List's move makes it one of a growing number of health care ratings service businesses, including HealthGrades, RateMDs and Revolution Health Group.

But Dr. Jon Marhenke, president of the Indiana State Medical Association, has concerns about the new option. He said doctors' services to patients can't be compared to the work of a skilled tradesman.

What goes into practicing effective medicine is complex, and he said that Angie's List's service tends to compare it to a routine task such as installing a new sump pump.

"It's not going to rate the quality of the medical care that was provided," Marhenke said, adding, "They may see a wonderful office and very courteous people, but that doesn't necessarily mean that they received good care."

Members of Angie's List may rate service provided in 55 categories of health care, including dentistry, hospitals, insurance providers and a wide array of medical specialties such as orthopedics, obstetrics and gynecology.

In pediatrics alone, members may choose health care providers in 14 categories, including doctors focused on primary care, cardiology and optometry.

The areas covered in the ratings include whether the office staff helpful and courteous, whether the physician explain things clearly, and if the patient felt the doctor understood his or her concerns.

The list's founder Angie Hicks said 76 percent of her members polled said they wanted to be able to rate health-care services.

"People are looking for a doctor that they can easily talk to and be open with. The key to a patient-doctor relationship is being able to communicate easily with them," she said.

Hicks sees health care potentially becoming a big growth area for Angie's List, with pediatrics an especially big draw as patients search for doctors for their kids.

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Information from: The Indianapolis Star, http://www.indystar.com