Study Finds Consumers Choose High-Value Health Care Providers When Given Good Cost and Quality Information
When consumers are asked to choose a health care provider based only on cost, they select the more expensive option because they equate higher cost with better quality, a new study finds. However, higher costs may indicate unnecessary or inefficient services, so cost information alone does not help consumers get the best value for their health care dollar. The study, "An Experiment Shows That a Well-Designed Report on Costs and Quality Can Help Consumers Choose High-Value Health Care," found that when consumers were shown the right mix of cost and quality information, they were better able to choose high-value health providers. Select to read our press release. Select to access the abstract on PubMed.® This study is one of three in the March 5 issue of Health Affairs that were commissioned by AHRQ. The others are:
"How Report Cards on Physicians, Physician Groups, and Hospitals Can Have Greater Impact on Consumer Choices," examines why public report cards that grade health care providers have not had more impact on consumer choices. Researchers interviewed experts from the field of public reporting and found that most public report cards are not user-friendly nor are they connected to consumer decisions about providers. Select to access the abstract on PubMed.®
"Multistakeholder Regional Collaboratives Have Been Key Drivers Of Public Reporting, But Now Face Challenges" finds that multi-stakeholder regional collaboratives have assumed a prominent role in producing public reports on the quality of care from health providers. The study examined eight regional collaboratives that have made significant contributions to public reporting and have been successful in building trust and cooperation among diverse stakeholders. Select to access the abstract on PubMed.®
Copies of the reprints are available by sending an e-mail to ahrqpubs@ahrq.hhs.gov
Study Finds Consumers Choose High-Value Health Care Providers When Given Good Cost and Quality Information |
Press Release Date: March 5, 2012
When asked to choose a health care provider based only on cost, consumers choose the more expensive option, according to a new study funded by HHS' Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) that appears in the March issue of Health Affairs. The study found that consumers equate cost with quality and worry that lower cost means lower quality care. But higher costs may indicate unnecessary services or inefficiencies, so cost information alone does not help consumers get the best value for their health care dollar, according to the study. The study, entitled "An Experiment Shows That a Well-Designed Report on Costs and Quality Can Help Consumers Choose High-Value Health Care," found that when consumers were shown the right mix of cost and quality information, they were better able to choose high-value health care providers—defined as those who deliver high-quality care at a lower cost. Health care consumers want to visit high-quality doctors and hospitals, and many public report cards are available to help them compare providers. However, few report cards include information on cost, and there has been little scientific evidence to guide the presentation of that information to help consumers choose high value providers. A team of researchers, led by Judith H. Hibbard, Dr. P.H., at the University of Oregon in Eugene, studied 1,400 employees in a randomized experiment to find out how they responded to different presentations of quality and cost information. When providers were clearly identified as high quality, cost had less influence on consumers' decisions and consumers were more likely to choose a provider with lower cost but better quality than a high-cost provider. "This study has important implications for the more than 150 public reports on physician and hospital care," said AHRQ Director Carolyn M. Clancy, M.D. "It's not simply a question of providing information on cost, but providing it in a way that is integrated with quality scores." The study explored a number of ways to present cost and quality information effectively, using combinations of symbols such as dollar signs and stars, specific information such as dollar amounts and percentages, and labels such as "appropriate use" or "better." Consumers were more likely to choose high-value providers when presented with strong, unambiguous quality and cost information. In addition, a check mark indicating a "high-value" provider, along with the cost and quality information, also helped consumers use the information to make high-value choices. Given strong quality signals, consumers were also more confident in their choices. The study's findings have implications for the design of public report cards that offer consumers information on the quality and cost of health care providers. Although report producers have been adopting strategies to help consumers process and use comparative information on quality and cost, many reporting websites still use overly technical information or present other barriers to easy comprehension, according to the study. For additional AHRQ information about public reporting, please visit http://www.ahrq.gov/path/publicreporting.htm. For more information, please contact AHRQ Public Affairs: (301) 427-1248 or (301) 427-1539. Use Twitter to get AHRQ news updates: http://www.twitter.com/ahrqnews/ 
Internet Citation:
Study Finds Consumers Choose High-Value Health Care Providers When Given Good Cost and Quality Information. Press Release, March 5, 2012. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, Rockville, MD. http://www.ahrq.gov/news/press/pr2012/highvaluepr.htm
Health Aff (Millwood). 2012 Mar;31(3):560-8.
An experiment shows that a well-designed report on costs and quality can help consumers choose high-value health care.AbstractAdvocates of health reform continue to pursue policies and tools that will make information about comparative costs and resource use available to consumers. Reformers expect that consumers will use the data to choose high-value providers-those who offer higher quality and lower prices-and thus contribute to the broader goal of controlling national health care spending. However, communicating this information effectively is more challenging than it might first appear. For example, consumers are more interested in the quality of health care than in its cost, and many perceive a low-cost provider to be substandard. In this study of 1,421 employees, we examined how different presentations of information affect the likelihood that consumers will make high-value choices. We found that a substantial minority of the respondents shied away from low-cost providers, and even consumers who pay a larger share of their health care costs themselves were likely to equate high cost with high quality. At the same time, we found that presenting cost data alongside easy-to-interpret quality information and highlighting high-value options improved the likelihood that consumers would choose those options. Reporting strategies that follow such a format will help consumers understand that a doctor who provides higher-quality care than other doctors does not necessarily cost more.
Health Aff (Millwood). 2012 Mar;31(3):602-11.
How report cards on physicians, physician groups, and hospitals can have greater impact on consumer choices.AbstractPublic report cards with quality and cost information on physicians, physician groups, and hospital providers have proliferated in recent years. However, many of these report cards are difficult for consumers to interpret and have had little impact on the provider choices consumers are making. To gain a more focused understanding of why these reports cards have not been more successful and what improvements could be made, we interviewed experts and surveyed registrants at the March 2011 AHRQ National Summit on Public Reporting for Consumers in Health Care. We found broad agreement that public reporting has been disconnected from consumer decisions about providers because of weaknesses in report card content, design, and accessibility. Policy makers have an opportunity to change the landscape of public reporting by taking advantage of advances in measurement, data collection, and information technology to deliver a more consumer-centered report card. Overcoming the constraint of limited public funding, and achieving the acceptance of providers, is critical to realizing future success.
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