Policy Examples

• CMS has published Hospital Compare and Physician Compare tools on medicare.gov. The quality ratings of other providers may be posted on payor websites or provider directories, however, they are not regulated or tracked. source

Outcome Evidence

• The New England Journal of Medicine has published evidence that suggests consumers are not using the information CMS publishes to make health care choices, mainly because the reports are hard to digest and often don’t convey information that matters to patients. source & source
• A 2019 Altarum study reviewed consumer centric transparency tools and found that consumers would not typically turn to a web-based comparator tool to select a provider. source
• A 2016 study published in Health Affairs found that a strong majority of the health care consumers do not associate healthcare cost with quality of care. source
• A 2018 Deloitte survey found that more consumers are engaging in quality metrics when deciding between health care providers (14% in 2015 to 27% in 2018). source