A system for allowing patients and employers in the United States to compare health services on the basis of price would be inadequate. To make such a tool worthwhile, quality comparisons are also essential. This article offers three steps that would put the country on a path to create such a system: 1) incentivizing the adoption of patient-centered quality measures at the condition level, 2) identifying clinicians, such as surgeons, who meet a minimum volume threshold for common procedures, and 3) ensuring the accuracy of clinician directories.
