Use of outcome data by purchasers and consumers: new strategies and new dilemmas

Objective. The complexities involved in measuring outcomes of care are perc eived as a core challenge of health services research. However, the complex ities associated with making outcomes data useable for purchasers and consu mers are just beginning to be recognized. The purpose of this paper is to o utline some of the barriers to purchaser and consumer use of clinical outco me (and other performance) data and to identify strategies for supporting g reater use of these data. Dilemmas associated with current and proposed str ategies are highlighted and recommendations are proposed. Evidence. Three recent studies focusing on consumer and purchaser use of ou tcome data are used to illustrate barriers, The decision research literatur e is also drawn upon to describe the information processing challenges face d by purchasers and consumers when using performance information for making choices. Findings. information packaging strategies and decision support tools desig ned to overcome barriers are described, and dilemmas associated with their use are outlined. One major concern is that if we adopt strategies to make report card data more digestible, we may be trading off some of the market effects (e.g. improved health plan performance) that justify report card ef forts in the first place.