How to Find and Use Information about the Quality of Health Care Providers

King County is teaming with the nonprofit Puget Sound Health Alliance to present Own Your Health, a campaign to empower consumers to become active participants in their own health and health care.

In the Own Your Health survey, we asked King County employees how strongly they agreed with the following statement: “I feel that I know where to go for information about the quality of my health care provider.” Here’s how over 1,900 people responded:

• Strongly Agree: 15%
• Agree: 33%
• Neutral: 34%
• Disagree: 14%
• Strongly Disagree: 4%

That means 52% of all respondents neither agree nor strongly agree they know where to go for that information. Here, we’ll share some ideas on where to get information on quality and how to use it.

Public reporting about quality in health care is a relatively new concept. The number of reports available continues to grow. You may not find everything you’re looking for, but you can still find lots of information that’s useful.

What’s the difference between objective and subjective reports?

• Objective reports are about whether health care meets specific quality measures defined by scientific evidence. An example of a measure is “Screening for Cervical Cancer,” which measures whether women ages 21 to 64 are getting recommended Pap tests. An objective report can also be based on scientific surveys of what patients report occurring in a doctor’s visit.
  
  
• Subjective reports come from people sharing opinions and feelings about their experiences. For example, patient reviews about doctors on a health plan’s website or on a public website like Yelp. Learning about people’s points of view can be very informative as long as you remember to take them for what they are: opinions.
  
  
• Always keep in mind the difference between the two types of reports and consider the source of information. For help assessing sources, you can refer to “How to Find Trustworthy Health Information on the Internet” on the Own Your Health website.

How can I use objective, public reports on health care quality?

• You can use reports about quality to help you select (or to learn you already have) a high-quality provider, and to understand more about what high-quality care is. While reports are useful, they can’t predict the care you’ll get or tell you the exact care you should get. If you have questions or concerns about any information you learn about in reports, talk to your health care team.
  
  
• Health care providers can and do use public reports about quality to know how well they are doing and to improve their patient care. So these reports may already be affecting your care.

Where can I go for information about the quality of my health care provider?

Here are some great places to start. The information on these sites is frequently updated, so you’ll want to check back for the most up-to-date information.

• The Community Checkup (www.wacommunitycheckup.org) gives you unbiased information about the quality of health care delivered in the Puget Sound region. You can view and compare medical groups, clinics, hospitals and health plans. Explore the website and know that new information will be added in the future.
  
  
• Hospital Compare (www.hospitalcompare.hhs.gov) is a U.S. Department of Health & Human Services Medicare website that allows you to compare hospitals in general, and also in relation to medical conditions and surgical procedures.
• Your health plan’s website may have reviews by patients as part of a directory.

Many of us look for ratings and reviews when shopping. We might want to know which car seat is safest or which TV has the best picture quality. If you had to shop without access to any information except what you saw you in an ad, you may not end up with what you need. Information about the quality of health care providers is different but the idea is the same: knowledge is power.

When you seek out and use public reports on health care quality, you are signaling that quality is important and that you hold health care providers responsible for sharing information and continually improving the quality of care they provide. And by talking about what you learn with your health care team, you can be a part of making sure you get high-quality health care.

Get more information by reading “How to Use Reports of Physician and Hospital Performance” on the Own Your Health website.