Does Public Reporting of Performance Data Improve Quality of Care?

Theoretically, public reporting of clinical performance data could improve quality of care (QOC) by motivating change and by affecting patients’ and payers’ selection and payment decisions. To examine the evidence, investigators systematically reviewed data from 45 studies on the effect of public reporting on QOC.

Review of 11 studies suggested that public reporting led to quality-improvement activity in hospitals. As for clinical outcomes, results from a retrospective cohort study indicated that health plans that reported performance data had better clinical performance, customer service, and courtesy measures than did plans that did not. However, in another retrospective study, health plans with lower QOC scores were more likely than plans…