Disclosing information and treating patients as customers. A review of selected issues

Although many insist that full disclosure of health care information is essential, it may be insufficient to help patients make health care decisions. As the patient's agent, the physician should translate medical information for the patient. Providing information on the quality of care may also be a problem. In view of the lack of consensus among experts about measures of quality, widespread disclosure of quality data should occur only when the data are better validated. In the HMO setting, patients may also face complex choices about insurance coverage that are beyond their comprehension. The HMO is challenged to determine the degree to which individuals must be treated as patients rather than as consumers.