Patients inverted question mark expectations of variation in quality of care relates to their search for comparative performance information
Publication year
2014Source
BMC Health Services Research, 14, 1, (2014), pp. 617ISSN
Publication type
Article / Letter to editor
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Organization
IQ Healthcare
Journal title
BMC Health Services Research
Volume
vol. 14
Issue
iss. 1
Page start
p. 617
Subject
Radboudumc 18: Healthcare improvement science RIHS: Radboud Institute for Health SciencesAbstract
BackgroundChoice of hospital based on comparative performance information (CPI) was introduced for Dutch healthcare consumers at least 5 years ago, but CPI use has not yet become commonplace. Our aim was to assess the role of patients inverted question mark expectations regarding variation in the quality of hospital care in determining whether they search for CPI.MethodsA questionnaire (for a cross-sectional survey) was distributed to 475 orthopaedic patients in a consecutive sample, who underwent primary hip or knee replacement in a university, teaching, or community hospital between September 2009 and July 2010.ResultsOf the 302 patients (63%) who responded, 13% reported searching for CPI to help them choose a hospital. People who expected quality differences between hospitals (67%) were more likely to search for CPI (OR =3.18 [95% CI: 1.02 inverted question mark9.89]; p <0.04) than those who did not. Quality differences were most often expected in hospital reputation, distance, and accessibility. Patients who did not search for CPI stated that they felt no need for this type of information.ConclusionPatients inverted question mark expectations regarding variation in quality of care are positively related to their reported search for CPI. To increase the relevance of CPI for patients, future studies should explore the underlying reasoning of patients about meaningful quality-of-care variation between hospitals.
This item appears in the following Collection(s)
- Academic publications [238441]
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- Faculty of Medical Sciences [90373]
- Open Access publications [97504]
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