Will Quality Report Cards Help Consumers?

This study assesses the relationship between the salience of quality information and how well it is understood by consumers. The analysis is based on survey data and content analysis from focus-group data (104 participants). The findings show that poorly understood indicators are viewed as not useful. Consumers often do not understand quality information because they do not understand the current health care context. All of this suggests that salience alone is not sufficient to determine which indicators should be included in report cards.