See a Boston Globe story on how health care consumers are not getting the kind of "report card" information they need when exploring health care options.
Excerpt:
"...many of the Massachusetts residents surveyed said they want information that is unavailable because it's difficult to collect or standardize comparisons between providers or has not yet been developed. Publicizing information has also met with objections from doctors and hospitals., which in some cases have has slowed the process.Posted by schwitz at April 4, 2007 09:53 AM | TrackBackIn choosing a doctor, people surveyed said the most important information is the doctor's experience treating a specific medical condition, the average amount of time the doctor spends with each patient, and patient satisfaction ratings."
Not only are patients faced with the difficulty of making accurate comparisons between providers, they must attempt to decode the Byzantine cost and reimbursement structure of the health care system in general. Even those of us who have been in health care finance for decades find that project to be a challenge. How is a retired plumber going to manage it?
Posted by: Catron at April 5, 2007 07:00 AM