Earlier industry studies hinted that consumers are only able to evaluate health care from a customer service perspective. The VHA study, in contrast, found that consumers believe information about clinical quality performance is a more important factor in their decision making than whether a doctor or hospital is in their insurance network, and that they would consider abandoning a provider they had a positive experience with if objective reports showed poor clinical quality performance. The study participants were asked a battery of questions related to the quality of the clinical care and how they choose providers. Clinical quality issues are central to consumers' definitions of health care quality and are more important selection drivers than service issues. Consumers see hospitals simply as bricks and mortar, performing a minor role in assuring clinical quality within the organization, but they believe hospitals, as functional organizations, should be playing a more active role.
Consumers believe physicians are the key drivers of clinical quality in a health care organization.
This study says consumers want clinical information. The study also indicates that hospitals that want to be successful need to demonstrate leadership in advancing clinical quality within their organizations. The next step for VHA is to develop the methods health care organizations can use to educate the public about what constitutes clinical quality. Secondarily, we need to develop the methods hospitals can use to appropriately share their performance with the public. Putting that communications effort into action can be pretty tricky, though.