Choosing Quality Healthcare
Health care quality varies in this country—a lot. For example, some health plans and doctors simply do a better job than others of helping you stay healthy and getting you better if you are ill.

So when it comes to making major health care decisions—about health plans, doctors, treatments, hospitals, and long-term care—how can you tell which choices offer quality health care, and which do not?

Fortunately, more and more public and private groups are working on ways to measure and report on the quality of health care. This means there is more and more information to help you make choices that improve the quality of your own care.

The goal of this guide is to help you find and use such information to choose quality health care. It can also help you measure quality for yourself according to what is most important to you. You can trust the information in this guide because it is based on research about what people want and need in order to make quality health care choices.

• Choosing a Health Plan
• Where Do I Get These Health Plans?
• What Are My Health Plan Choices?
• What Plan Benefits Are Offered?
• Indemnity and managed care plans
• Does your plan cover
• Preferred Provider Organization (PPO)
• How Do I Compare Health Plans
• Health Maintenance Organization (HMO)
• Choosing a Primary Care Doctor