Quality reports can be facility's best friend
How do your consumers make an initial decision about the quality of your medical services? You probably can guess, and the answer should concern you.
Nearly three out of every four consumers hears about provider quality haphazardly through external sources that definitely aren’t using professional-grade standards. By far, most consumers get a quality barometer from the lips of others they know – friends, relatives, acquaintances and neighbors.
A recent survey by Forrester Research reports that 60 percent of 5,000 consumers it surveyed said they used word-of-mouth reports to evaluate healthcare providers. Another 18 percent of consumers make quality decisions based on news media reports.
Two things should be apparent about these types of consumer quality communication. First, providers typically have very little input or control over this information. Second, these reports have a higher likelihood to be negative or, at the least, based on factors that may have little or no bearing on the quality of care – for example, the quality of food or the availability of parking.
The Forrester report indicates that online channels were used by only 27 percent of consumers for researching quality. Typically, these consumers go to health plans’ Web sites or use commercial comparison tools to research quality. A growing option is data that’s available on Web sites of organizations such as the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations or the Center for Medicare & Medicaid Services.
In the past, there’s been a lot of concern among healthcare executives about widely distributing quality information without framing that information. Many have felt a need to explain poor performance by interjecting how case mix or other factors can negatively affect quality statistics. While information such as case mix needs to be factored into the equation, providers who would prefer that quality information not be widely disseminated are living in the past.
Consumers will increasingly be paying the bill for healthcare services, through consumer-directed healthcare and higher deductible plans. Baby Boomers have also been raised on a steady diet of being able to access consumer ratings on everything from cars to hairdryers in order to make informed purchasing decisions. Savvy healthcare consumers will want the same level of information when it comes to making a decision on a healthcare provider.
Mainstream media also will be paying more attention to healthcare issues, and that’s typically not good news for providers. From my nine years of experience on weekly and daily newspapers, I can assure you that your local newspaper isn’t waiting around looking for a feel-good story to write about your organization. It’s the role of the media to report on the news, and generally, that means closely following whatever trouble your organization encounters. Coverage of malpractice suits or quality sanctions won’t reflect well on an organization, and that’s information that consumers will use in making their decisions on healthcare.
Healthcare organizations are realizing that the landscape has changed and are making plans to quantify quality and release relevant information to the public. For example, the Premier health alliance is promoting its QUEST initiative to develop best practices for care delivery, disseminate them to member hospitals and other providers, and raise the overall bar of quality care in the industry.
Premier’s effort shows that the industry can take the bull by the horns and take the lead in the quality discussion. In other initiatives, such as the HCAHPS Hospital Survey developed by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, hospitals will be judged by an entirely different set of parameters, many of which are consumer-rated factors surrounding clinical care.
Demonstrating quality will place new demands on healthcare organizations. Many will have to spend more money to hire staff to meet new quality demands. Others will have to ramp up information technology initiatives so that needed quality data can be collected effortlessly during the care delivery process.
Providers shouldn’t resent the new demands of demonstrating quality. Last issue, we highlighted the experience of Spectrum Health, a hospital system that rigorously pursues quality improvement and has quantified financial advantage by marketing its quality edge.
Quality measurement is no longer something to be avoided or feared – providers should get actively involved to ensure quality initiatives are relevant and effective. They need to strive for and achieve quality, and then effectively market their commitment to improvement to increasingly savvy consumers. There’s no turning back now.
