Health Service Quality Information Comparison

This chapter investigates the provision of public health information, especially health service quality and cost information, to the general public in the United States. The authors first review the health system of the US from three aspects: its public policy, structure, and accreditation of health institutions. Then the complexity of health information provision and the challenges in its interpretation are identified and analyzed. “Comparison-shopping” is introduced as a new mode of decision support for individuals to select health services, and examples of its current applications are given. The comparison-shopping mechanism in the e-commerce industry and the health information industry are compared and the different driving forces in health information comparison-shopping are analyzed. Several directions for future research are provided for researchers and health practitioners.