Country: United States
Survey Organization: Harris Interactive, Inc.
Field Date: October 1, 2007–October 28, 2007
Sample: Peer-nominated experts in health care policy, finance, and delivery; select members of the Modern Healthcare database
Sample Size: 241 (survey successfully e-mailed to 1,294 people)
Interview Method: Online/E-mail
Read an analysis of the findings in a Data Brief, as well as two related commentaries, A Historic Change by Robert Galvin, M.D., director of global health care for General Electric, and Patients Can't Do It Alone by Paul Ginsburg, Ph.D., president of the Center for Studying Health System Change.
The 12th Commonwealth Fund/Modern Healthcare Health Care Opinion Leaders Survey found that increased transparency in the quality and price of health care is important, according to a diverse group of experts. More than 80 percent of health care opinion leaders called for transparency on prescription drug prices and medical loss ratios (i.e., the share of premium dollars that private insurance companies spend on medical care). Most respondents believe increased transparency would reduce health care spending, primarily by stimulating providers to improve quality and efficiency and by allowing payers to reward such efforts. Favored policy strategies for improvement of health care transparency include the creation of a new public–private entity to standardize and implement transparency in health care; widespread adoption of health information technology; shared responsibility for funding across government, insurers, and providers; and federal leadership to create a meaningful system of public reporting on quality and price.
Methodology
This survey was conducted online by Harris Interactive on behalf of The Commonwealth Fund among 241 opinion leaders in health policy and innovators in health care delivery and finance within the United States between October 1, 2007, and October 28, 2007. No weighting was applied to these results.
The initial sample for this survey was developed using a two-step process. Initially, The Commonwealth Fund and Harris Interactive jointly identified a number of experts across different sectors and professional sectors with a range of perspectives, based on their affiliations and involvement in various organizations and institutions. Harris Interactive then conducted an online survey with these experts asking them to nominate others within and outside their own fields whom they consider to be leaders and innovators in health care. Based on the result of the survey and after careful review by Harris Interactive, The Commonwealth Fund, and a selected group of health care experts the sample for this poll was created. The final list included 1,246 people. Then in 2006, The Commonwealth Fund and Harris Interactive joined forces with Modern Healthcare to add new members to the panel. The Fund and Harris were able to gain access to Modern Healthcare's database of readers. The Fund, Harris, and Modern Healthcare identified readers in the database considered opinion leaders and invited them to participate in the survey. This list included 1,467 people. In an effort to clean the sample, The Commonwealth Fund and Harris removed those respondents who did not respond to any previous surveys. The final list included 1,294 people.
Harris Interactive sent out individual e-mail invitations containing a password-protected link to the entire sample. Data collection took place between October 1, 2007, and October 28, 2007. A total of three reminder emails was sent to anyone who had not responded. A total of 241 respondents completed the survey.
With a pure probability sample of 241 adults one could say with a 95 percent probability that the overall results have a sampling error of +/- 6.3 percentage points. However, that does not take other sources of error into account. This online survey is not based on a probability sample and therefore no theoretical sampling error can be calculated.
Past Health Care Opinion Leaders Surveys
Health Care Opinion Leaders Survey Part I, Assessing Health Care Experts' Views on Policy Priorities
Health Care Opinion Leaders Survey Part II, Assessing Health Care Experts' Views on Health Insurance Issues
Health Care Opinion Leaders Survey Part III, Assessing Health Care Experts' Views on Health Care Costs
Health Care Opinion Leaders Survey Part IV, Assessing Health Care Experts' Views on Medicare and Its Future
Health Care Opinion Leaders Survey Part V, Assessing Health Care Experts' Views on Medicaid and Its Future
Health Care Opinion Leaders Survey Part VI, Assessing Health Care Experts' Views on Long-Term Care
Health Care Opinion Leaders Survey Part VII, Assessing Congress's Policy Priorities
Health Care Opinion Leaders Survey Part VIII, Evaluating Medicare Part DHealth Care Opinion Leaders Survey Part IX, Congressional PrioritiesHealth Care Opinion Leaders Survey Part X, Assessing SCHIPHealth Care Opinion Leaders Survey Part XI, Assessing Health Care Quality and Safety
