Elorm Damalie

Public Reporting of Healthcare Services: How Information Influences Consumer’s Choices. A Roadmap for Finland

The consumers’ decisions are very dependent on the information bombarded on them daily by various companies. In the healthcare sector, searching for good reliable healthcare information is gaining prominence among patients. There is a need for availability of information that helps make healthcare choices.

In terms of healthcare services, this has led to a demand for platforms enabling access to the information that patients search for. Examples of such platforms exist in the public reporting systems of various countries. Public reporting is a major component in the health market digital ecosystem. It is defined by performance related information reported to the general public as well as multiple professionals and providers using systematically gathered comparative data.   

This study investigates the motivation for and effective use of public reporting systems in healthcare service delivery in Finland. The research also highlights the influence of patients’ perspective on multiple actors (consumers, doctors, insurance industry, pharmaceutical industry, healthcare providers) within the Finnish healthcare system.

The Finnish healthcare system is also going through a reform (SOTE). According to the SOTE recommendations for the freedom of choice there is the need to develop a public reporting system to facilitate the decision-making process of patients.