title: Physicians' views on public reporting of hospital quality data.
abstract: This article describes physicians' responses to patient questions and physicians' views about public reports on hospital quality. Interviews with 56 office-based physicians in seven states/regions used hypothetical scenarios of patients questioning referrals based on public reports of hospital quality. Responses were analyzed using an iterative coding process to develop categories and themes from data. Four themes describe physicians' responses to patients: (a) rely on existing physician-patient relationships, (b) acknowledge and consider patient perspectives, (c) take actions to follow up on patient concerns, and (d) provide patients' perspectives on quality reports. Three themes summarize responses to hospital quality reports: perceived lack of methodological rigor, content considerations in reports, and attitudes/experience regarding reports. Findings suggest that physicians take seriously patients' questions about hospital-quality reports and consider changing referral recommendations based on their concerns and/or preferences. Results underscore the importance of efforts by report developers and physician outreach/education to address physicians' methodological concerns.
authors.affiliation: Qualidigm.
authors.forename: Judith K
authors.initials: JK
authors.lastname: Barr
authors.forename: Shulamit L
authors.initials: SL
authors.lastname: Bernard
authors.forename: Shoshanna
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Sofaer
authors.forename: Tierney E
authors.initials: TE
authors.lastname: Giannotti
authors.forename: Nancy F
authors.initials: NF
authors.lastname: Lenfestey
authors.forename: David J
authors.initials: DJ
authors.lastname: Miranda
mesh_terms: D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D006761:Hospitals / Q000592:standards*; D006801:Humans; D019221:Mandatory Reporting; D010820:Physicians / Q000523:psychology*; D011787:Quality of Health Care; D014481:United States