Measuring Value in Health Care: The Promise of Transparency

When Aligning Forces for Quality (AF4Q) was taking shape nearly a decade ago, information about the cost and quality of health care was hard to find. Thanks in part to the pioneering work of AF4Q’s regional health care collaboratives, transparency is a thriving force on the health care landscape. Along with being accessible, information must also be useful to everyone who gets, gives, and pays for care. Panelists explore the role that information about cost and quality is playing to spur quality improvement and consumer choice, what can be done to make it more useful to both consumers and providers, and the long-term impact of transparency on both the practice and consumption of health care.