Physician Ratings | Consumer Health Choices

About the campaign
Campaign materials
Collaborators
Methods and Reports

About the campaign

Under a grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, Consumer Reports published and distributed ratings of thousands of local health-care providers in three states.

The campaign helped to publicize the pioneering efforts by health improvement collaboratives in Massachusetts, Minnesota and Wisconsin, who are measuring and reporting on the quality of local medical care.

The outcome has benefited consumers in those three states. In addition, the methods these local groups have developed are a model that can be adopted by communities across the country.

The broader RWJ effort, called Aligning Forces for Quality, seeks to lift the quality of health and health care by teaming up with those who get care, give care and pay for care.

Campaign materials

Each state campaign created its own suite of consumer resources.

Collaborators

The three regional groups whose quality data has been distributed through this effort are:

Massachusetts Health Quality Partners

Minnesota Community Measurement

Wisconsin Collaborative for Healthcare Quality

Methods

Each of the three regional collaborators assembled ratings of healthcare providers, using different measures that they developed. Through a grant, “Health Practitioner Ratings and Consumer Choice,” Consumer Reports turned that data into ratings and prepared consumer-oriented reports for distribution within Consumer Reports magazine and for specialized distribution within each state.

Massachusetts Health Quality Partners (MHQP) concentrated on patient experience.
Minnesota Community Measurement (MNCM) focused on quality of care for diabetes and vascular disease.
Wisconsin Collaborative for Healthcare Quality (WCHQ) reported on preventive care.