Consumer Decision Support Systems: A Health Care Case Study

Next-generation business-to-consumer electronic commerce applications will rely more on locating, integrating, and presenting valuable information to consumers than implementing simple economic exchanges. While there are certainly profits to be captured in the economic exchange, the upstream information gathering and decision making activities offer some interesting opportunities for consumer support. Data warehousing offers the ability to implement consumer decision support systems that allow consumers to identify an interesting subset of fine-grained transactions, analyze the data, and produce customized reports. This paper uses an existing health care data warehouse to explore the use of detailed data in constructing consumer decision support systems. The health care arena is characterized by complex consumer decision making, such as the need to become educated with regard to a particular illness and the various treatment options. The example reports demonstrate how detailed knowledge regarding the health care delivery system, including hospitals and physicians, can supplement the clinical perspective of an informed consumer.