Health Insurance Daily

Patients Starting To Act Like Consumers

More Americans are starting to approach health care decisions the same way they shop for household appliances. Patients think it’s important to compare cost and quality on medical services and physicians, even though that information may be hard to find, new research from the consulting firm Booz Allen Hamilton shows.

Patients indicated that doctors and hospitals should compete mainly on quality, while health plans should compete on price, and pharmaceutical firms should compete on price and quality. Meanwhile, both traditional health plan enrollees and high-deductible health plan participants thought competition was good thing for the health care sector. Still, those in consumer-driven health plans had a higher expectation for competition.

Patients cited doctors, family and friends and independent sources, such as Consumer Reports, as reliable sources for medical cost and quality data. However, many viewed their health plans among the least trustworthy sources of health information, followed by employers, the government and pharmaceutical companies. Oddly enough, 60% of doctors thought health plans were the best source for data on physician prices.

David Knott, senior vice president at Booz Allen Hamilton, says, “Consumers are turning away from traditional information sources, such as employers and the government, in search of new, independent sources.”

Article published by Benefit News 4-17-07

posted by Mike @ 7:47 AM