Home Health & Hospice Week

Survey points to the need to educate the public.

All the work you've been putting into maintaining and boosting your Home Health Compare scores may not be translating into increased business, a new study suggests.

When it comes to choosing a health care provider, the majority of American people still go about it in traditional ways, rather than looking at available comparative data about the quality of various service providers, according to an October Kai-ser Family Foundation survey.

The "vast majority of people say they have neither seen nor used comparative quality information," the survey found. Overall, 30 percent of Americans surveyed said they have seen information comparing the quality of different health insurance plans, hospitals, or doctors in the past year.

Only about one in seven persons (14 percent) said they had seen and used information comparing the quality among different health insurance plans, doctors, or hospitals in the past year, according to Kaiser.

Those with college educations are somewhat more likely to say they have seen and used comparative quality information than those with a high school degree or less. But the problem may simply be that people aren't aware of the tools available. And it's up to the quality compare Web sites to do a better job of promoting their tools, Kaiser suggests.

For example: Only 6 percent of respondents said they have heard of the government's Hospital Compare Web site. And 64 percent of Americans said it's difficult to find information comparing the cost of different treatments and procedures offered by different doctors and hospitals, Kaiser says.

Big problem: Many home care providers are focusing on coordination of care, which is a major concern for Americans. About two-thirds of the public said coordination among health professionals they visit is a problem, and 30 percent said it is a major problem.

A little more than 20 percent reported having two specific problems with coordination of care very often or somewhat often -- one was having to wait for test results longer than they thought appropriate, and the other was seeing a health care professional who did not have all of their medical information.

HHAs help tackle readmissions: Many people are taking steps on their own to help ensure the proper coordination of their care. Over one-third -- 36 percent -- said they or a family member have created their own set of medical records so that their health care provider would have all of their medical information on hand. This is a step that home care providers are assisting with in one of Medicare's new projects to reduce hospital readmission rates (see Eli's HCW, Vol. XVII, No. 40, p. 319).

Many people have taken specific steps "that are in line with recommendations from experts to help ensure safer health care," Kaiser said. These steps include checking the medication that a pharmacist gave them with the prescription that their doctor wrote, calling back to check on the results of a medical test, bringing a list of all of the medications they were taking to a doctor's appointment, bringing a friend or a relative to a doctor's appointment so that they could help ask questions and understand what the doctor was telling them, and telling a doctor, nurse, or surgeon about any drug allergies without being asked about it.

People give a lot of weight to how familiarity affects ratings of different healthcare providers. A "slim majority" of 52 percent said they would be more likely to choose health plans based on high expert ratings versus recommendations by friends and family. While 47 percent would choose a higher-rated surgeon, 44 percent would go for a surgeon who has treated friends or family.

A clear majority of 59 percent, however, said that they would choose a hospital that is familiar to them, rather than a higher-rated facility, which would only be preferred by 35 percent of the people, according to Kaiser.