Information Presentation and Consumer Choice: Evidence from Assisted Reproductive Technology (ART) Success Rates Reports

Prior literature on quality disclosure focuses on whether information provision affects consumer choice and health care quality; yet little is known about the effect of information presentation on choice and quality in health care report cards. This paper examines how a format change of the Assisted Reproductive Technology (ART) reports affects consumer choice. Using panel data on clinic quality and market share from the 1993-2006 ART reports, we find that after the first version of quality report was released in 1998, when both “success rate” and “multiple-birth rate” were reported but only “success rate” was highlighted, consumers responded to “success rate” but not “multiple-birth rate;” after the second version was released in 2004, when “singleton success rate” was added and highlighted, consumers started to favor clinics with lower “multiple-birth rate.” This paper provides the first exploration of the effect of information presentation in a health care reporting system. Our findings suggest that proper design of information presentation is crucial in determining the effectiveness of public reporting.