Today’s news of a Rand study on California hospitals’ price transparency as well as this weekend’s New York Times article on emerging online services to help consumers compare medical service pricing shine a spotlight once again on the issue of transparency in health care. And, the news serves as an alert for health communicators that the issues of reporting and transparency are ready to emerge in earnest as key topics for consumers.

Discussions about reporting of data -- both for pricing and outcomes -- have been happening for some time among industry insiders without much impact for consumers. In fact researchers for years have studied the effects of outcomes data reporting and found little conclusive proof of a connection to health consumer behavior.

But now, as the Times’ article describes, people are paying more out of pocket for health care. That economic reality is spurring them to seek information on health care pricing – and a similar quest for outcome and quality data is sure to follow.

We as communicators will have to find ways of helping organizations navigate this topic to meet consumer need while also addressing the complexity of reporting data. Data is never straightforward as much as we would like it to be. We’ll need to tackle challenges of data time lags, accuracy of self-reported information and apples-to-oranges comparisons just to mention a few topics. That’s even more reason for communications teams to start now and take the lead in figuring out approaches to making data reporting meaningful and clear.

The key will be to make sure we’re always keeping in mind the topic from a consumer point of view. A Robert Wood Johnson Foundation policy brief from last year gives a great road map to actions to consider for better transparency on outcomes data, and the same principles can also apply to presentation of pricing information. The RWJF authors emphasize that the keys to helping consumers make informed decisions using data are that the information is: relevant, widely known to be available, delivers value and accurately identifies high quality providers. By following these principles, provider organizations can help consumers navigate through a sea of data and measures that can be complicated and confusing even for industry insiders.

So, is your organization ready for consumer demands for transparency? Ask yourself:

1.) Does your organization regularly report outcome data and industry rankings – both good and bad?

2.) Does your organization have published goals and philosophies on how it shares comparative data?

3.) Have you benchmarked yourself against peer organizations? And have you shared findings with employees, patients and consumers?

4.) How do you help consumers make sense of the outcome and pricing data that is already available?

5.) What would happen if a patient contacted your organization asking for more information on pricing or outcome data? Also, are you prepared for an investigative reporter or blogger inquiry on these subjects?

Proof of consumer interest in comparative data may have been thin in years past, but economic pressures and market-driven change is making transparency a key issue that health communicators must prepare to address.