Study Finds Consumers Choose Safer Hospitals, Regardless of Cost

According to a new study, when patients are shown Hospital Safety Score grades and cost information together, consumers will choose safer hospitals 97% of the time, regardless of cost.  These results are from a study titled “The Effects of Hospital Safety Scores, Total Price, Out-of-Pocket Cost, and Household Income on Consumers’ Self-Reported Choice of Hospitals,” published in The Journal of Patient Safety,  by Altarum Institute’s Center for Consumer Choice in Health Care (CCCHC). The research highlights consumers’ understanding of the Hospital Safety Score, published twice annually by The Leapfrog Group. The study measured the relative influence of the following three factors in consumers’ choice of hospitals: (1) total cost, (2) out-of-pocket cost, and (3) safety as measured by the Hospital Safety Score letter grade. The survey was administered to 2,357 online respondents. On average, 94% and 88% of the respondents chose the safer hospital in the two survey questions.

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