Data on quality of care hard to find

Quick View. Nov. 13, 2006.

Have you personally used information you saw comparing quality among doctors, hospitals or health plans in making any decisions about care?
Did not see any quality information	64%
Used quality information	20%
Saw information, but did not use it	16%
Did you personally use the information you saw specifically comparing quality among doctors in making any decisions?
Yes	55%
No	44%
Don't know/refuse to answer	1%
Which of the following do you think is the more important cause of preventable medical errors that result in serious harm?
Mistakes made by individual health professionals	48%
Mistakes made by the institutions where they work	36%
Don't know/refuse to answer	16%
Should hospital reports of serious medical errors be confidential and only used to learn how to prevent future mistakes or should they also be released to the public?
Released to the public	63%
Confidential	29%
Don't know/refuse to answer	8%
Should physicians be required to tell patients if a preventable medical error resulting in serious harm is made in their own care?
Yes	87%
No	9%
Don't know/refuse to answer	4%

Most patients say they're unhappy with the quality of health care, but they're not sure how to find, or use, quality data.

A Kaiser Family Foundation and Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality survey found that 51% of respondents were dissatisfied, up from 43% in a similar poll from October 2004. Patients' opinions and awareness about the details of health care quality and safety did not change, although more now say they know what "medical error" means.

Source: Kaiser Family Foundation and Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, "2006 Update on Consumers' Views of Patient Safety and Quality Information"

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