Consumer engagement in health care is an area that needs a great deal more attention, what CHCF is doing in California is admirable. Despite CHCF’s efforts, I can’t help thinking that the lack of consumer involvement in their own care has a lot to do with the health literacy levels of consumers.
Even if information that is available to consumers is considered easy to understand (they generally use language that can be understood by a 7th grader), people who are experiencing a health crisis are often too scared to trust their own judgment and will rely on their health care providers for guidance.
The move to making consumers more aware of what their care costs, and what the quality of care is at different hospitals is a logical move however, I feel that it will take a long time to teach consumers a new behavior. For generations, we have been taught that doctor knows best and very few patients challenge that.
Rising health care costs and a heavier emphasis on quality of care can act as catalysts for greater consumer involvement; therefore it is important to have transparency so that consumers can access information. I think that the willingness of consumers to truly be involved in knowing about cost and quality of care will require a significant amount of time and a major culture shift.
I agree that information needs to be presented in a way that better enables people to understand that information - making it less complicated, eliminating the noise, etc. However, I don't think Shannon discussed the important difference between healthcare and the other examples she provided of subjects you could research online. Healthcare as I have experienced it in the U.S. is much more personal. I think most of the provider recommendations (or warnings) I have received have come from word of mouth, whether from friends or other physicians. I know that for me, personally, I would not want to receive care from a physician whom I did not like, even if he was an excellent physician. Also, the initial question is interesting because I think that answers could vary by how, exactly, pay is interpreted.
I agree that information needs to be presented in a way that better enables people to understand that information - making it less complicated, eliminating the noise, etc. However, I don't think Shannon discussed the important difference between healthcare and the other examples she provided of subjects you could research online. Healthcare as I have experienced it in the U.S. is much more personal. I think most of the provider recommendations (or warnings) I have received have come from word of mouth, whether from friends or other physicians. I know that for me, personally, I would not want to receive care from a physician whom I did not like, even if he was an excellent physician. Also, the initial question is interesting because I think that answers could vary by how, exactly, pay is interpreted.
I agree that health literacy is part of the issue when it comes to getting consumers involved in their health decision-making and especially when it comes to evaluating the quality of care information that's available.
In a lot of ways, the average person may not understand the significance of mortality rates for pulmonary embolism, for example. Not only may they not know what an embolism is, they may not really understand the concept of rate and why that matters in choosing a hospital (if they have a choice).
The other factor is cost. The writer starts out asking whether there's a relationship between what consumers pay and the quality of care they receive. The problem here is that it's really hard to find out how much health care services cost.
The prices vary by institution and the institutions are not always transparent up front about what they're charging you.
A colleague of mine who's on a high-deductible plan recently needed to have some bloodwork done, and so she decided that before she just went to Strong Labs, she'd call around to see how much her tests would cost. After hours of frustrating calls, she finally had gotten the numbers she needed and was able to choose the lowest quoted price, though the quote came with the caveat that prices can change. You can read about her experience here: http://blogs.democratandchronicle.com/health/2011/09/20/the-bill-arrived-the-bill-arrived/#more-649
The point, though, is how are consumers supposed to make informed choices when they can't easily get the information they need and when there are no uniform standards for pricing or reporting quality measures?
Without ready access to pricing and without understandable, uniform quality measures, consumer engagement will not be a threat. And that is unfortunate.
Consumer engagement in health care is an area that needs a great deal more attention, what CHCF is doing in California is admirable. Despite CHCF’s efforts, I can’t help thinking that the lack of consumer involvement in their own care has a lot to do with the health literacy levels of consumers.
ReplyDeleteEven if information that is available to consumers is considered easy to understand (they generally use language that can be understood by a 7th grader), people who are experiencing a health crisis are often too scared to trust their own judgment and will rely on their health care providers for guidance.
The move to making consumers more aware of what their care costs, and what the quality of care is at different hospitals is a logical move however, I feel that it will take a long time to teach consumers a new behavior. For generations, we have been taught that doctor knows best and very few patients challenge that.
Rising health care costs and a heavier emphasis on quality of care can act as catalysts for greater consumer involvement; therefore it is important to have transparency so that consumers can access information. I think that the willingness of consumers to truly be involved in knowing about cost and quality of care will require a significant amount of time and a major culture shift.
I agree that information needs to be presented in a way that better enables people to understand that information - making it less complicated, eliminating the noise, etc. However, I don't think Shannon discussed the important difference between healthcare and the other examples she provided of subjects you could research online. Healthcare as I have experienced it in the U.S. is much more personal. I think most of the provider recommendations (or warnings) I have received have come from word of mouth, whether from friends or other physicians. I know that for me, personally, I would not want to receive care from a physician whom I did not like, even if he was an excellent physician. Also, the initial question is interesting because I think that answers could vary by how, exactly, pay is interpreted.
ReplyDeleteI agree that information needs to be presented in a way that better enables people to understand that information - making it less complicated, eliminating the noise, etc. However, I don't think Shannon discussed the important difference between healthcare and the other examples she provided of subjects you could research online. Healthcare as I have experienced it in the U.S. is much more personal. I think most of the provider recommendations (or warnings) I have received have come from word of mouth, whether from friends or other physicians. I know that for me, personally, I would not want to receive care from a physician whom I did not like, even if he was an excellent physician. Also, the initial question is interesting because I think that answers could vary by how, exactly, pay is interpreted.
ReplyDeleteI agree that health literacy is part of the issue when it comes to getting consumers involved in their health decision-making and especially when it comes to evaluating the quality of care information that's available.
ReplyDeleteIn a lot of ways, the average person may not understand the significance of mortality rates for pulmonary embolism, for example. Not only may they not know what an embolism is, they may not really understand the concept of rate and why that matters in choosing a hospital (if they have a choice).
The other factor is cost. The writer starts out asking whether there's a relationship between what consumers pay and the quality of care they receive. The problem here is that it's really hard to find out how much health care services cost.
The prices vary by institution and the institutions are not always transparent up front about what they're charging you.
A colleague of mine who's on a high-deductible plan recently needed to have some bloodwork done, and so she decided that before she just went to Strong Labs, she'd call around to see how much her tests would cost. After hours of frustrating calls, she finally had gotten the numbers she needed and was able to choose the lowest quoted price, though the quote came with the caveat that prices can change. You can read about her experience here: http://blogs.democratandchronicle.com/health/2011/09/20/the-bill-arrived-the-bill-arrived/#more-649
The point, though, is how are consumers supposed to make informed choices when they can't easily get the information they need and when there are no uniform standards for pricing or reporting quality measures?
Without ready access to pricing and without understandable, uniform quality measures, consumer engagement will not be a threat. And that is unfortunate.