A majority of physicians are not actively engaged in quality-improvement practices and are reluctant to share information with the general public about the quality of the care they provide, a survey conducted by the New York City-based Commonwealth Fund finds.

Published in Health Affairs magazine, the survey of more than 1,800 physicians found that use of electronic medical records is surprisingly limited: A quarter of the physicians report using such records routinely or occasionally. In addition, only a third of respondents said they are involved in efforts to redesign their systems to improve care, or have access to data about the quality of their own clinical performance. In addition, while seven out of ten respondents (71 percent) said information about individual physicians' clinical performance should be shared with leaders of the health systems at which they work, just over half (55 percent) said patients should have access to quality data about their own doctors, and only three out of ten (29 percent) said the general public should have access to quality data on physicians.

The authors of the report conclude that physicians' adoption of measures, tools, and methods necessary to improve quality is moving too slowly and is not where it should be if the nation hopes to develop a high-performance healthcare system characterized by the seamless transfer of information among clinicians, healthcare managers, and patients, as well as the capacity to assess and improve care on a contiual basis.

"The American public expects manufacturers of products such as automobiles to know what the quality of their products is, to be providing information about quality and safety to the public, either directly or through the government, and to be continually engaged in improving their products," said Commonwealth Fund executive vice president Stephen C. Schoenbaum, a co-author of the article. "In that context, it is shocking that doctors don't know what the quality of their care is compared to their peers, are very reluctant to make such information available to their patients and the public, and are not continually engaged in major efforts to improve care."

To read or download an executive summary of the survey, visit: http://www.cmwf.org/publications/publications_show.htm?doc_id=276460.