Trending News Today: Many Consumers Don't Associate Price With Quality in Health Care

A new study found that a majority of health care consumers did not associate price with quality, Kaiser Health News reported. The study involved 2010 adults who were given 4 questions regarding their relationship with health care costs and quality. The questions included: “would you say higher prices are typically a sign of better quality medical care of not?” and “If one doctor charged less than another doctor for the same service, would you think that the less expensive doctor is providing lower quality care or would you not think that?” The results of the study, published in Health Affairs, found that 58% to 71% of consumers didn’t see an association between quality and price, depending on the question.

Federal investigators in the Government Accountability Office (GOA) and the investigative arm of Congress found a significant weakness in cybersecurity for health insurance websites. The weaknesses were found in California, Kentucky, and Vermont, leaving the window open for potential hackers to gain personal information about thousands of people, reported an Associated Press story quoted by the New York Times. Officials in California and Kentucky reported that there was no evidence of hackers stealing information. The GOA recommends that the federal government continues to monitor cybersecurity among states.

There are many drugs in existence that have similar proprietary names. This can cause confusion among the patient as well as the physician. The FDA will now offer to evaluate a proposed drug’s proprietary name in its premarket review in order to cut down on confusion that may lead to dispensing the wrong product, the Regulatory Affairs Professionals Society reported.