Choosing a Comparator for Health Care Quality Scores

One of the most important decisions you will make is choosing the “comparator,” i.e., the level of performance against which you are assessing each health plan or provider in your report. When you set a comparator, you are essentially signaling to consumers what they should expect from the health care system. Many people do not realize that quality varies and that performance is sometimes poor in absolute terms.^[1]  Your choice of a comparator can communicate and reinforce this message.

This section discusses the following options:

• Comparing Health Plans and Providers to Each Other
• Comparing to a State or National Average
• Comparing to a Benchmark (the Highest Performance Achieved)
• Comparing to the Top 10 or 20 Percent of Performers
• Comparing to an Independent Standard

You may choose to display more than one comparison, or make more than one comparison available for your audience to choose.

Also in "Choosing a Point of Comparison"

• Choosing a Comparator
• Categorizing High and Low Performance
• Ordering the Data
• Explaining Your Comparisons