[telemedicine] Consequences of Physician Report Cards

[Medical Informatics News]

Reporting quality information publicly can promote quality improvement. However, according to
an article in the current issue of the JAMA, the Journal of the
American Medical Association, the value of publicly reporting quality information is essentially undemonstrated and
may have unintended and negative consequences on health care. These unintended consequences include causing
physicians to avoid sick patients in an attempt to improve their quality ranking, encouraging physicians to achieve
“target rates” for health care interventions even when it may be inappropriate among some patients, and discounting
patient preferences and clinical judgment.




*




Medicare began requiring hospitals to report data on*certain quality measures last year and
posts the information on the Internet. It plans to start
rewarding better-performing hospitals and doctors
with more money.



Full text article available
here.
Associated Press coverage of
the article available

here.

Permalink*|*Email this*|*Comments









Ads by Google



http://www.telemedicineinsider.com/2...-report-cards/