We’ve been hearing tidbits here and there. A CMO from a large East Coast health system said, “Our docs have been asking about what things cost.” A COO from a large non-profit hospital wrote, “Several physicians have brought up their interest in knowing the cost of resources being used in caring for their patients.” But, a recently published survey of 600 physicians from Deloitte University Press, “ Practicing value-based care – What do doctors need?,” provides real fuel to this fire.

Below is Figure 7 from the report. The takeaway – physicians said cost data is the third most useful type of data they get (behind clinical outcomes and patient experience), yet it is the least available out of all seven types of data.

We frequently confront the mistrust among hospital administrators that any new healthcare IT system will be used by physicians. Much of this history is the result of administrative burdens and other non-physician-friendly IT “solutions” hoisted upon physicians.

Here is an opportunity to give docs something they actually want and will allow them to make better decisions that will benefit patients, hospitals and their own bottom line.