The Healthcare Policy Podcast ®  Produced by David Introcaso
The Healthcare Policy Podcast ® Produced by David Introcaso
The Pros and Cons (or Imperfections) in Rating Hospital Care Quality: A Conversation with Consumer Reports' Doris Peter (November 30th)
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The Pros and Cons (or Imperfections) in Rating Hospital Care Quality: A Conversation with Consumer Reports' Doris Peter (November 30th)

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Though comparatively late to adopt quality ratings, many health care products and services are today quality rated.  For example, CMS rates hospital, nursing home and home health care care quality along with Medicare Advantage insurance and prescription drug, or Part D plans.  Quality performance is a factor in calculating rewards and penalties in Medicare pay for performance agreements, for example, in scoring earned shared savings for Accountable Care Organizations.   Though today common, rating care quality is not without criticism.  For example, researchers question the validity of how component or domain scores are weighted or clustered, the absence or inadequacy of risk adjustment, meaningfulness to patients, patient literacy/numeracy limitations and unintended negative consequences.     

During this 21 minute conversation, Dr. Peter discusses why Consumer Reports rates hospital care quality, the methodology used in scoring hospital care quality, specifically types of care quality, for example prevalence of hospital-acquired infections, the response to ratings by hospitals, use by patients or consumers, the imperfections or limitations in rating hospital care quality, unintended negative consequences and how Consumer Reports intends to improve upon its work in the near term.

Dr. Doris Peter is the Director of Consumer Reports Health Ratings Center, a part of the nonprofit organization, Consumer Reports.   Beyond hospitals her team rates other health care services including physicians and insurance plans and as well health care products, e.g., drugs.  Dr. Peter is also the Principal Investigator of a grant from the Consumer and Prescriber Education Grant Project that helps consumers understand safety, effectiveness and the cost of prescription and over-the-counter medications.  Prior to joining Consumer Reports Dr. Peter was an editor and then publisher of the nonprofit organization, The Medical Letter, and then North American editor for an international evidence-based medicine journal.  Dr Peter is a neurobiologist by training, earning her Ph.D. at UCLA.  She completed a postdoctoral fellowship in cellular biophysics at Rockefeller University.

For more on Consumer Reports hospital quality ratings efforts go to: http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/health/doctors-and-hospitals/index.htm

Discussion about this podcast

The Healthcare Policy Podcast ®  Produced by David Introcaso
The Healthcare Policy Podcast ® Produced by David Introcaso
Podcast interviews with health policy experts on timely subjects.
The Healthcare Policy Podcast website features audio interviews with healthcare policy experts on timely topics.
An online public forum routinely presenting expert healthcare policy analysis and comment is lacking. While other healthcare policy website programming exists, these typically present vested interest viewpoints or do not combine informed policy analysis with political insight or acumen. Since healthcare policy issues are typically complex, clear, reasoned, dispassionate discussion is required. These podcasts will attempt to fill this void.
Among other topics this podcast will address:
Implementation of the Affordable Care Act
Other federal Medicare and state Medicaid health care issues
Federal health care regulatory oversight, moreover CMS and the FDA
Healthcare research
Private sector healthcare delivery reforms including access, reimbursement and quality issues
Public health issues including the social determinants of health
Listeners are welcomed to share their program comments and suggest programming ideas.
Comments made by the interviewees are strictly their own and do not represent those of their affiliated organization/s.