Although cost remains the top priority in designing corporate employee healthcare plans, 25% of top executives of U.S.-based multinational businesses also give high priority to quality-of-care data, according to a survey by PricewaterhouseCoopers’ Health Research Institute. Thirty-nine percent currently provide healthcare data to employees, and 68% of companies obtain it from health plans. Only a third of the surveyed executives said the data from health plans are“high quality,” however, and they said that the auto industry, colleges and universities, the consumer electronics sector, and hotels and restaurants do a much better job at providing data to help consumers make sound decisions. “Considering the potential life-or-death importance of decisions that could be made from healthcare quality data, this is a front-and-center issue for hospitals,” says Bill Luallen, a health industry provider partner with PricewaterhouseCoopers. “If new cars, colleges, and consumer electronics can provide useful data, the healthcare industry may see an opportunity here and rise to the occasion.” Click here to view the survey findings.
