Do consumer reports of health plan quality affect health plan selection?

Objective. To learn whether consumer reports of health plan quality can aff ect health plan selection. Data Sources. A sample of 311 privately insured adults from Los Angeles Cou nty. Study Design. The design was a fractional factorial experiment. Consumers r eviewed materials on four hypothetical health plans and selected one. The h ealth plans varied as to cost, coverage, type of plan, ability to keep one' s doctor, and quality, as measured by the Consumer Assessment of Health Pla ns Study (CAHPS(TM)) survey. Data Analysis. We used multinomial logistic regression to model each consum er's choice among health plans. Principal Findings. In the absence of CAHPS(TM) information, 86 percent of consumers preferred plans that covered more services, even though they cost more. When CAHPS(TM) information was provided, consumers shifted to less e xpensive plans covering fewer services if CAHPS(TM) ratings identified thos e plans as higher quality (59 percent of consumers preferred plans covering more services). Consumer choices were unaffected when CAHPS(TM) ratings id entified the more expensive plans covering more services as higher quality (89 percent of consumers preferred plans covering more services). Conclusions. This study establishes that, under certain realistic condition s, CAHPS(TM) ratings could affect consumer selection of health plans and ul timately contain costs. Other studies are needed to learn how to enhance ex posure and use of CAHPS(TM) information in the real world as well as to ide ntify other conditions in which CAMPS ratings could make a difference.