United Hospital Fund Study Doubts Utility of Quality Performance Websites
Websites profiling the comparative performance of healthcare providers often fail to deliver information that consumers actually want and can readily assimilate, according to a new report from the New York City-based United Hospital Fund (UHF).
The 15-month study looked at 70 publicly available websites, with 32 sites evaluated for the same ten common procedures and conditions. The report finds that while website developers are often preoccupied with assessing technical aspects of clinical quality on a hospital-wide basis, measures of patient experience and provider relations receive “far less attention, despite their obvious salience to consumers.” The authors argue that consumers need reliable, timely, composite measures of sufficient sample size that are easy to understand, with an emphasis on evaluating how patients experience care delivery on a personal basis. They recommend the U.S. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality’s CAHPS Consortium for pioneering work, including a new effort to elicit and publish narratives offered by patients regarding their experiences of care...