Consumer Use of Provider Quality Report Cards: The Role of Dissemination and Media Coverage.

Objective: The objective of this study was to measure the dissemination of comparative provider quality information (CPQI) and evaluate its impact on consumers' awareness and use of CPQI.

Data Sources: Two-period, random-digit-dial panel survey of chronically ill consumers residing in 14 regions of the United States; summaries of CPQI dissemination activities of regional multistakeholder alliances; and the LexisNexis Academic and Access World News databases.

Study Design/methods: Fixed effects regression to isolate the effect of CPQI producers' dissemination activities and the print media's CPQI coverage on chronically ill consumers' self-reported awareness and use of CPQI.

Principal Findings: Direct CPQI dissemination had no overall effect on either awareness or use of CPQI. One unit increase in the media coverage of an Aligning Forces for Quality (AF4Q) multistakeholder alliance report increased consumer awareness and use of CPQI by 1.4 percentage points (P=0.049) and 1.1 percentage points (P=0.009), respectively. Similar increases for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) CPQI and for the nonalliance, non-CMS CPQI improved CPQI use by 1.6 percentage points (P<0.001) and 0.2 percentage points (P=0.041), respectively.

Conclusion: Even though CPQI producers' direct dissemination efforts had little impact, the small but significant consumer impacts of CPQI's limited press coverage suggests that limited use of media in the dissemination of report cards may be a significant factor behind low consumer awareness and use.