Undetermined impact of patient decision support interventions on healthcare costs and savings

"Although there is evidence to show that patients choose more conservative approaches when they become better informed, there is insufficient evidence, as yet, to be confident that the implementation of patient decision support interventions leads to system-wide savings."

Undetermined impact of patient decision support interventions on healthcare costs and savings: systematic review
T Walsh, PJ Barr, R Thompson, E Ozanne, C O’Neill, G Elwyn,

BMJ 2014;348:g188

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NHS healthcare providers: working with choice and competition

"Being able to choose a provider can directly benefit patients. Effective patient choice incentivises providers to deliver higher quality and more efficient services than would otherwise be the case. For choice to be effective, patients need to be well informed about the options that are available to them. Patients need to know when they have choices, what choices are available, and how the different options compare."

NHS healthcare providers: working with choice and competition
Monitor
September 2014

Find out more here.

My NHS: Open data for better services

The Department of Health and NHS England have released a new website that aims to "support transparency and drive quality" by making performance data more available to patients. The My NHS site contains performance statistics for hospitals, social care services, and for public health services and outcomes.

Access the website here.

Patient empowerment: for better quality, more sustainable health services globally

"This report highlights some of the lessons and examples from this increasingly global patient empowerment movement. The primary focus is on the role of individuals in their own healthcare, although overlap with the equally important issues of public involvement in health and empowerment in social care are recognised."

Patient empowerment: for better quality, more sustainable health services globally

All Party Parliamentary Groups on Global Health; HIV/AIDs; Population, Development and Reproductive Health; Global Tuberculosis; and Patient and Public Involvement in Health and Social CareMay 2015

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Shine: Improving the value of local healthcare services

"This learning report shares the successes and lessons from the first two rounds of the Health Foundation’s Shine programme: annual awards to test small-scale innovative interventions that aim to improve the quality, safety and value of healthcare services."

Shine: Improving the value of local healthcare services
The Health Foundation, London
February 2014

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Decision aids helped to lower hip and knee surgery rates and costs

"In a large observational study, patients who received balanced information on the risks
and benefits of orthopedic procedures had 26 percent fewer hip replacement surgeries, 38 percent fewer knee replacement surgeries, and 12 percent to 21 percent lower costs over a six-month period."

Introducing decision aids at Group Health was linked to sharply lower hip and knee surgery rates and costsThe Commonwealth Fund
September 2012

Read more here.