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Using report cards to grade health plan quality.
1United HealthCare Corp., Minneapolis.
The Journal of American Health Policy
|December 9, 1993
Summary
Health care report cards help consumers make informed decisions but do not fully inform them or improve health system performance on their own.
Area of Science:
- Health Services Research
- Health Policy Analysis
Background:
- Informed consumer purchasing decisions are central to federal health reform.
- Health care report cards are a key tool for quality assessment.
Purpose of the Study:
- To evaluate the effectiveness of health care report cards in informing consumers and improving health system performance.
Main Methods:
- Analysis of existing health care quality reporting mechanisms.
- Review of literature on consumer decision-making and health system improvement.
Main Results:
- Health care report cards represent a significant advancement in quality assessment.
- Report cards alone are insufficient to fully inform consumers.
- Report cards do not, by themselves, drive health system performance improvements.
Conclusions:
- While valuable, health care report cards require complementary strategies to achieve their full potential.
- Further research is needed to determine how to best leverage report cards for consumer education and system enhancement.