Do Employers Know the Quality of Health Care Benefits They Provide? Use of HEDIS Depression Scores for Health Plans

ObjectiveDissemination of health quality measures is a necessary ingredient of efforts to harness market-based forces, such as value-based purchasing by employers, to improve health care quality. This study examined reporting of Healthcare Effectiveness Data and Information Set (HEDIS) measures for depression to firms interested in improving depression care.MethodsDuring surveys conducted between 2009 and 2011, a sample of 325 employers that were interested in improving depression treatment were asked whether their primary health plan reports HEDIS scores for depression to the National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA) and if so, whether they knew the scores. Data about HEDIS reporting by the health plans were collected from the NCQA.ResultsHEDIS depression scores were reported by the primary health plans of 154 (47%) employers, but only 7% of employers knew their plan’s HEDIS scores. Because larger employers were more likely to report knowing the scores, 53% of all employees worked for employers who...