CONDITION-SPECIFIC PERFORMANCE INFORMATION - ASSESSING SALIENCE, COMPREHENSION, AND APPROACHES FOR COMMUNICATING QUALITY

This study assesses how consumers view condition-specific Performance measures and builds on an earlier study to test an approach for commun icating quality information. The study uses three separate designs: a small experiment, a cross-sectional analysis of survey data, and focus groups. We test whether providing information on the health care cont ext affects consumer understanding of indicators. Focus groups were us ed to explore how consumers view Performance measures. The cross-secti onal survey analysis used survey data from the experiment and the focu s groups to look at comprehension and the salience of condition-specif ic performance measures. Findings show that a general consumer populat ion does view condition-specific performance measures as salient. Furt her, the findings provide evidence that information on the health care context makes a difference in how consumers understand performance me asures.