Do consumers find certain performance measures—such as readmissions and avoidable complications data—useful?

Yes, but there must be context.

 
When consumers are interested in using cost and resource use information to make decisions about their care, some types of data are useful only when accompanied by information that gives the data context.
 
Readmission and complication measures are not meaningful or useful by themselves. Consumers find certain resource use measures—such as 30-day readmission and avoidable complication rates—compelling because they can indicate poor outcomes. But without information that puts it into context, consumers, as well as many providers, are unclear about who is responsible for those outcomes—the patient (due to lack of adherence to instructions) or provider (due to improper care or patient education). Consumers also need to know if a particular rate could be the result of a provider seeing sicker patients.
 
 
Cause of the readmission or complication. Did the patient follow provider instructions? Did the doctor or hospital fail to follow a particular care process? 
Type and prevalence of medical conditions reflected in the patient population. Does this doctor or hospital specialize in seeing a certain type of patient who might be more susceptible to readmissions or complications? 
Explanation about whether the results take into account doctors who see sicker patients. If a doctor’s patients are sicker than the general population, are scores adjusted to account for this? 
 
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