Referring physicians' intention to use hospital report cards for hospital referral purposes in the presence or absence of patient-reported outcomes: a randomized trial
-
Published:2023-04-13
Issue:
Volume:
Page:
-
ISSN:1618-7598
-
Container-title:The European Journal of Health Economics
-
language:en
-
Short-container-title:Eur J Health Econ
Author:
Emmert MartinORCID, Schindler Anja, Heppe Laura, Sander Uwe, Patzelt Christiane, Lauerer Michael, Nagel Eckhard, Frömke Cornelia, Schöffski Oliver, Drach Cordula
Abstract
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to determine the intention to use hospital report cards (HRCs) for hospital referral purposes in the presence or absence of patient-reported outcomes (PROs) as well as to explore the relevance of publicly available hospital performance information from the perspective of referring physicians.
Methods
We identified the most relevant information for hospital referral purposes based on a literature review and qualitative research. Primary survey data were collected (May–June 2021) on a sample of 591 referring orthopedists in Germany and analyzed using structural equation modeling. Participating orthopedists were recruited using a sequential mixed-mode strategy and randomly allocated to work with HRCs in the presence (intervention) or absence (control) of PROs.
Results
Overall, 420 orthopedists (mean age 53.48, SD 8.04) were included in the analysis. The presence of PROs on HRCs was not associated with an increased intention to use HRCs (p = 0.316). Performance expectancy was shown to be the most important determinant for using HRCs (path coefficient: 0.387, p < .001). However, referring physicians have doubts as to whether HRCs can help them. We identified “complication rate” and “the number of cases treated” as most important for the hospital referral decision making; PROs were rated slightly less important.
Conclusions
This study underpins the purpose of HRCs, namely to support referring physicians in searching for a hospital. Nevertheless, only a minority would support the use of HRCs for the next hospital search in its current form. We showed that presenting relevant information on HRCs did not increase their use intention.
Funder
The German health care Innovation Fund Universität Bayreuth
Publisher
Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Subject
Health Policy,Economics, Econometrics and Finance (miscellaneous)
Reference60 articles.
1. Berwick, D.M., James, B., Coye, M.J.: Connections between quality measurement and improvement. Med Care. 41, I30–I38 (2003) 2. Totten AM, Wagner J, Tiwari A, O`Haire C, Griffin J, Walker M. Public Reporting as a Quality Improvement Strategy: Closing the Quality Gap: Revisiting the State of the Science. 12th ed.; 2012. 3. Fung, C.H., Lim, Y.-W., Mattke, S., Damberg, C., Shekelle, P.G.: Systematic review: the evidence that publishing patient care performance data improves quality of care. Ann. Intern. Med. 148, 111–123 (2008) 4. Chen J. Public reporting of health system performance: a rapid review of evidence on impact on patients, providers and healthcare organisations: An Evidence Check review brokered by the Sax Institute; 2010. 5. Berger, Z.D., Joy, S.M., Hutfless, S., Bridges, J.F.P.: Can public reporting impact patient outcomes and disparities? A systematic review. Patient Educ Couns. 93, 480–487 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pec.2013.03.003
|
|