Executive Summary (This is a document excerpt)

Hospital quality data is in vogue. Nonprofit associations, such as the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO), publicize quality standards and post hospital data online. Medicare will soon follow suit with similar patient safety and treatment outcomes data on its Web site. Commercial health plans and employers are jumping onboard — posting quality comparisons and statistics on their Web sites for their constituents' benefit. So far, consumers aren't paying much attention. In the past year, only 12% of US consumers researched health providers' cost or quality. The healthcare industry's hopes that increasingly prevalent hospital quality data will influence consumers' care decisions — and help control spiraling healthcare costs — are not being realized. Plans must step up their communications and incentives for members to seek out better providers.

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