ABSTRACT
Health care services are not like other essential services, for example electricity or telecommunications, where consumers can easily measure the quality of the service supplied. This problem is linked to an absence of information. Patients may often not have the information with which to judge the quality of a diagnosis made or of the care recommended or provided.1 Health care providers generally have more information than patients, resulting in an information asymmetry problem and concerns that providers may take advantage of vulnerable patients. There is also a concern, however, that providers themselves lack good information about the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of many health care services. A lack of information also means that it is difficult and costly for government to directly regulate the quality of health care services.
