Public reporting of clinical outcomes--the data needs of health care stakeholders.

The Pennsylvania Health Care Cost Containment Council (PHC4) was created by the Pennsylvania legislature to promote cost constraint and assure quality of care by providing public information about the performance of health care providers. Today the Council is challenged by the information needs of multiple users including business, labor, insurers, managed care organizations, hospitals, physicians, and the public. Each of these interest groups has different priorities for the types of activities and reports of the Council. PHC4 must carefully balance the information needs of each of these stakeholders. All stakeholders believe that an assessment of the impact of changes currently underway within the delivery system must occur. PHC4 must continue to provide meaningful and more timely outcomes information and also find an appropriate role to augment data from other sources regarding the implications of the movement toward managed care.