How Stakeholder Perceptions of Quality Shape Healthcare Transactions: Insights from Key Decision-Makers Across the Ecosystem

Although there has been significant public and private investment in quality initiatives, including their use in payment and regulatory models, this study elucidates how stakeholders across the healthcare ecosystem assess quality from a strategic operating perspective. We identified a number of key drivers that underpin transactional relationships and that ultimately impact the results of standardized and publicly reported quality measures captured for payment, regulation, and public accountability purposes. While decisions regarding these relationships are internal matters and thus fall outside the scope of regulators, policymakers and regulators need to understand their importance and likely correlation with what is ultimately measured and used for payment, regulation, and public transparency.