Clinical question
How effective is public release of performance data at changing the healthcare utilisation behaviour of healthcare consumers, providers (professionals and organisations) and purchasers of care?
Bottom line
There was low‐certainty evidence that public release of performance data made little or no difference to long‐term healthcare utilisation by healthcare consumers or providers, or to provider performance. However, there was also low‐certainty evidence to suggest public release of performance data slightly improved some patient outcomes. There was low‐certainty evidence from a single study to suggest public release of performance data might have differential effects on disadvantaged populations.
Caveat
There was no evidence about effects on healthcare utilisation decisions by purchasers, or about adverse effects. The evidence base varied substantially in terms of setting (eg, US or Korea), health condition (eg, heart attack or hip replacement), type of performance data (eg, process or patient outcome) and the mode of data publication (eg, mail shot or poster).
Context
Healthcare providers are increasingly expected to inform the public on how well they are performing. However, it is not yet known whether public release of performance data has a measurable influence on patients' choice of healthcare services, or whether it can truly drive improvements in the quality of healthcare.
Cochrane Systematic Review
Metcalfe D et al. Impact of public release of performance data on the behaviour of healthcare consumers and providers. Cochrane Reviews, 2019, Issue 9. Art. No.: CD004538.DOI: 10.1002/14651858. CD004538.pub3. This review contains 12 studies involving 7,570 providers and 3,333,386 clinical encounters.
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