According to a new commentary from the Center for Studying Health System Change (HSC), until consumers are motivated to use quality information to choose providers, the main value of public quality reporting will be to motivate providers to improve their performance. Unlike price transparency—where consumer needs vary greatly depending on their insurance coverage and benefits—theoretically, all consumers can benefit from the same information on the quality of care provided by individual physicians, medical groups, hospitals, and other providers. However, most Americans still rely on recommendations from friends, family members, and physicians when choosing doctors or hospitals. Effective quality reporting needs to reflect different consumer abilities to understand and use information, according to the commentary, entitled Health Care Quality Transparency: If You Build It, Will Patients Come? For example, layering information would allow consumers to choose whether they want to access broad quality assessments or drill down to detailed information about specific facets of performance. Providers should also realize that communicating their beliefs about flaws in quality data or analyses to consumers undermines consumers’ willingness to rely on the information.
