Transparency in Healthcare: How to Assess?

Implications: The author argues that transparency in healthcare will be an important step forward for the consumer.

Analysis: I could not agree more that transparency in healthcare is important but the issue remains how best to provide this information to the consumer.  In the field of Oncology, the American Society of Clinical Oncology has supported a number of quality initiatives and physicians can participate in a voluntary quality program.  The program is superb but only can assess a fraction of quality issues.  In the care of many diseases, it is not even clear to the physician which therapy overs the most favorable risk benefit ratio.  Hence, this complex area remains be be defined, but no doubt we will see increased "tranparency" over the coming months and years.