A trend to keep an eye on: Doctor's scorecards

The companies will use insurance claims information to rate how well doctors follow standard treatment practices established by the National Committee on Quality Assurance and the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations.

Participating companies include J.C. Penny, Morgan Stanley, and Sprint Corp., representing two million covered employees plus their dependents.

"We have an obligation to give our employees more information," J. C. Penney benefits manager Sharon Leight, told The Wall Street Journal. "We can't just say, 'You are responsible for your healthcare, now go at it.' When you go buy a car you look at Consumer Reports to find out about both price and value, but we don't do that in healthcare because we don't have the same information."

The companies are currently developing the format for the publication that they are currently calling "Care Focused Purchasing." They estimate it will take a year to produce.