Quality and price transparency will curb U.S. healthcare spending by at least 1%, said roughly half of respondents in the Commonwealth Fund’s latest healthcare opinion leaders survey. Of those respondents, slightly more than 30% said disclosure would reduce spending by 1% to 5%, while 17% said reporting would cut spending by at least 5%. The October online poll is the Commonwealth Fund’s fourth and final industry opinion leader’s survey for 2007. Roughly 240 healthcare insiders, academics and public policymakers participated, or a response rate of 21%.
Eighty-five percent of respondents called greater transparency an important catalyst for performance improvement. Three-fourths agreed that disclosure was important to encourage insurers to reward or recognize quality and efficiency, and 66% said the same for transparency’s role helping patients make informed decisions. For more on the Commonwealth survey, please visit modernhealthcare.com on Monday. -- by Melanie Evans
Want to be an opinion leader? The Commonwealth Fund and Modern Healthcare are looking for more industry leaders to take part in a poll four times a year, the Healthcare Opinion Leaders Survey. Follow this link to quickly nominate yourself or others you think might qualify. We are looking for top executives of large health systems, hospitals, medical groups and payers.
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