HHS Secretary names UO researcher to national health advi...( EUGENE-The Secretary of Health and Huma...),Health

The National Advisory Council for Healthcare Research and Quality (NACHRQ) improves the quality, safety, efficiency and effectiveness of health care services for the public by providing advice and recommendations to the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ). Members are selected based on their expertise and involvement in critical health care policy issues. Members include health care plan providers, researchers and consumers, as well as representatives from federal agencies such as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the National Institutes of Health.

"There is a growing recognition that it will be essential to engage consumers as partners in the solutions to health care problems," says Hibbard, whose research has been influential in shaping this new policy focus.

Hibbard, a professor of planning, public policy and management, studies consumer roles in health care, with a particular interest in how individuals can, through their own actions and choices, obtain a higher quality of care.

She and colleagues at the University of Oregon are currently conducting a study that examines the assumption that underlies consumer driven health plans-that consumers will make more cost-effective health care choices if they are given the information they need and if they are required to pay more out of pocket for their care. The UO study examines how consumers behave when they have information on differences in health care costs and health care quality. Hibbard says more informed consumer decisions could ultimately improve health care and lower costs for both consumers and their employers. The study will examine this and other assumptions about how consumers who participate in these health plans behave.

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Contact: Pauline Austin
paustin@uoregon.edu
541-346-3129
University of Oregon
3-Dec-2004