This year we offer a combination of our previous efforts by our survey partner, the nonprofit organization Consumers’ Checkbook of Washington, D.C. We’ve combined the highest-ranked physicians and specialists from 2011 and 2012 into one comprehensive listing of the Las Vegas Valley’s best.

Consumers’ Checkbook was founded in 1974, with financial support from the U.S. Office of Consumer Affairs, to help Americans get high-quality services and products at the best possible prices. Its “Top Doctors” surveys have been done in more than 50 major U.S. cities.

These surveys on 38 different specialties were done exclusively for Vegas Seven.

Consumers’ Checkbook surveyed all active office-based doctors on the local American Medical Association mailing list. It asked each surveyed doctor to tell which one or two specialists, in each of 35 different specialty fields, he or she “would consider most desirable for care of a loved one.” The list of top doctors contains the names of physicians who were mentioned multiple times. (We’ve noted the doctor who received the most mentions in each category over the two years.)

No, not every great doctor in Las Vegas made the list. That’s the nature of surveys; there is a margin of error. But the beauty of ours is that it’s an advanced-level of word of mouth, if you will, and if you need a primary-care physician or a specialist, we guarantee that this is a good place to start.

For further details on Consumers’ Checkbook, its methodology or its other consumer services, visit Checkbook.org.