Do they make a difference in patient care?
CONTEXT: Consumer reports in health care are a relatively recent phenomenon. Primarily designed to assist consumers in making more informed decisions about their personal health care, they appear to have an important by-product-they led to positive changes in the behavior of clinicians and health care delivery organizations. While there has been much speculation on their impact on health care consumer behavior, consumer reports offer an effective strategy in improving the quality of patient care. OBJECTIVE: To examine the impact of an obstetrics consumer report developed and issued by the Missouri Department of Health on hospital behavior. DESIGN AND SETTING: A retrospective study of hospital behavior using both primary survey and secondary clinical data. PARTICIPANTS: Consumer reports were issued in 1993 to all Missouri hospitals providing obstetrical services (n=90). A survey was conducted a year later, and the results were analyzed with other available data to determine the effect o
