Researchers from the University of Utah announce the results of the Value in Health Care Survey, conducted to explore how patients, physicians, and employers perceive value and prioritize quality, service, and cost of health care.
The national survey, commissioned by University of Utah Health and conducted by Leavitt Partners, included 5,031 patients, 687 physicians, and 538 employers.
Respondents indicate that while the health care system in the United States must deliver value, what that means concretely is unclear. The survey also reveals several key misalignments and surprising points of convergence, per a media release from University of Utah Health.
“If we agree as a country that we must provide higher quality health care, a better patient experience, and at a lower cost, then we all need to understand these different viewpoints and definitions,” says Dr Bob Pendleton, University of Utah Health’s chief medical quality officer, in the release.
“The Value in Health Care Survey makes clear some of the specific ways we lack shared perspectives but also suggest points of convergence that can be used to map a path forward to achieve a value-focused health care system.”
Among the survey’s findings, one-third of patients assigned responsibility for keeping out-of-pocket costs low to themselves while another third assigned responsibility to insurers/brokers. Only a handful of patients chose physicians or employers. Physicians, by contrast, held insurers/brokers most responsible and patients the least, while a third of employers selected themselves. The remaining two-thirds selected insurers and health systems.
Across the value statements, neither patients, physicians nor employers assigned responsibility to the employer, suggesting they don’t recognize the impact that employers have on employees’ health via the medical benefits plans they offer, the release explains.
[Source(s): University of Utah Health, PR Newswire]
