Data inform decision-making among patients, doctors, insurers

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Dec 9 2011

A study uses a new measure to judge nation's health care, another asks doctors to rate the best and worst insurers.

Modern Healthcare: Patient Data Key To Use Of Performance Measures: Study
The availability of patient data is the most important factor affecting the use of performance measures, according to a report by the National Quality Forum. The report-;commissioned by NQF and authored by the Rand Corp.-;examined how performance measures are being used and what improvements might be made (McKinney, 12/8).

WBUR's CommonHealth blog: Better Doctor-Shopping Is On The Way -; But Will You Use It?
The federal government has just announced that it will let more light shine on a great trove of Medicare data -; medical claims records from its 47 million patients. And in particular, it will let employers, consumer groups and insurance companies mine those mountains of claims to help them rate the performance of individual doctors. ... What does it mean? I asked Dr. Tara Lagu, a research scientist at Baystate Medical Center (Goldberg, 12/8).

Medscape: Doctors Rate Best & Worst Payers (Slide Show)
Survey fielded to 307,000 US physicians. Total respondents: 10,214 US physicians. United States was divided into 9 geographic regions to account for differing insurance companies by region. Fieldwork conducted by Medscape from 9/23/11 to 11/7/11. Data collected via third-party online survey collection site (12/8).

The Hill: Study Ranks USA First In Overall Health
After crunching the World Bank's world development indicators and survey data from the 2010 Gallup World Poll, the London-based nonprofit Legatum Institute concluded that the U.S. is 10th overall for prosperity -; but first for health. ... So, why did France, the leader in healthcare rankings by the World Health Organization because of its universal healthcare system and top-notch prevention efforts, end up in seventh place? Thirty percent of French people "report feeling worried during the previous day" (Pecquet, 12/8).

This article was reprinted from kaiserhealthnews.org with permission from the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. Kaiser Health News, an editorially independent news service, is a program of the Kaiser Family Foundation, a nonpartisan health care policy research organization unaffiliated with Kaiser Permanente.