True value of public information: online resources help consumers compare hospitals

The discussion of the true value of the public information continues. As blogged earlier, the authors of the report “Identifying High-Quality Hospitals” suggest that the true value of public information is to spur enhanced quality improvement efforts rather than to provide a solid foundation for consumer choice. The Wall Street Journal, as reported in iHealthbeat today, comments that transparency efforts launched by the federal government, state agencies and the private sector have boosted consumers’ online access to a variety of hospital data, and the data can help consumers determine how aggressive a particular hospital is in its overall care.