Report: Health plans not sharing needed information

"Health plans could do a better job of sharing information with employers to enable improvements in patient safety, care coordination and consumerism," according to a report on health plan performance released this week by the National Business Coalition on Health. (Source: "Better sharing of health claims data needed: NBCH," Business Insurance, Nov. 13, 2007.) The report, titled "Connecting the Dots in Health Care" (PDF download), states that:

• While all surveyed plans said they offer provider directories, only 58% provided information on office hours and only 60% provided "publicly available, evidence-based measures of quality. Moreover, only 28% provide mortality or complication rates, and just 31% provide patient experience data."


• Only 28% of plans provide information on a physician’s accessibility for e-mail communications, and just 15% include information on the availability of Web consultations.