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Dying to Know: Public Release of Information about Quality of Health Care
Public disclosure of the comparative performance of health care providers is seen as one mechanism for improving quality of care and controlling health care costs. This report, the result of a collaboration between the Nuffield Trust in London and RAND, assesses the U.S. experience with publicly releasing health care performance data and offers guidelines for establishing public disclosure policy in the United Kingdom. Becausethe United States leads the world in reporting clinical information by hospital and by physician name, this report will be of interest to any country considering public release of performance data. Principal findings: Despite a rapidly expanding report card industry, U.S. physicians are skeptical about report cards, and consumers and purchasers rarely use them.Hospitals may respond to performance data with internal changes, especially in a competitive environment. Publishing comparative mortality data seems to improve outcomes, but the mechanism by which this happens is unclear. Key recommendations: Public disclosure should be viewed as an evolutionary process, becoming more sophisticatedand comprehensive over time. Disclosure should be a tool to support all quality initiatives in the U.K. National Health Service. Provider organizations should be a key audience for performance information. Health professionals should be fully involved in the publicdisclosure process. Both process and outcome measures of quality should be published. Public disclosure should be accompanied by possible explanations for the variations reported.
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Pages: 131
ISBN/EAN: 0-8330-2891-X
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Contents
Foreword PDF
Acknowledgments PDF
Executive Summary PDF
Abbreviations PDF
Chapter One:
Introduction PDF
Chapter Two:
Methodology PDF
Chapter Three:
Public Disclosure in the Context of Health Care Systems PDF
Chapter Four:
The Purpose of Public Release of Performance Data PDF
Chapter Five:
Overview of Publicly Available Performance Data in the United States PDF
Chapter Six:
Evaluation of the Impact of Public Data PDF
Chapter Seven:
Discussion: Policy Issues for the United Kingdom PDF
Chapter Eight:
Recommendations PDF
References PDF
Chapter 1:
Frequency of Conditions/Procedures Studied in Report Cards PDF
Chapter 2:
Evidence Tables PDF
Chapter 3:
Conceptual Model of Public Disclosure PDF
Chapter 4:
Summary of Reporting Systems That Have Been Subject to Evaluation PDF
Chapter 5:
U.S. Diagnosis Related Group Frequency Data PDF
Chapter 6:
U.K. Common Causes of Hospital Bed Occupancy PDF
Chapter 7:
Illustrative Examples of Performance Indicators in the U.K. PDF
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