Ninety-one percent of consumers, employers and brokers said that Web-based personal health records, online physician comparisons and online hospital comparisons are beneficial, according to a new TriZetto survey, reports iHealthBeat.

Eighty-eight percent of survey respondents also said that online health plan comparisons are beneficial.

From Modern Healthcare News: California’s health insurers trade group is supporting the prohibition on reimbursing providers on “never events”.

The board for the California Association of Health Plans unanimously passed a decision in favor of no longer paying for eight never events.

The California Association is also endorsing a bill that would prohibit providers from billing payers for adverse events that cause the death or injury of a patient.

Read more on press release:
Rebecca Vesely’s,

Kaiser Daily News: The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid (CMS) has awarded a total of $24.5 million to its highest-performing members in a Medicare pay-for-performance project.

Read More on Press Release: CMS Recognizes Hospitals in Medicare Pay-for-Performance Pilot Project With Financial Awards

Sarah Mcintosh, in Kansas reports the increase of in-store health clinics opening in pharmacies. These in-store clinics offer both acute and preventative care. They also provide price transparency by posting a list of services and prices ahead of time.

With in-store health clinics, consumers don’t have to worry about going to the doctor’s office when it is closed, or making a trip to the emergency room for the “common cold”.

Hanh Kim Quach at the California Progress Report notes that AB 2967 passed the Assembly and has been sent to Senate. The bill would create the California Health Care Cost and Quality Transparency Committee and would begin a comprehensive statewide data collection effort to spur public reporting of cost and quality across the spectrum, including doctors, hospitals, other facilities, other licensed caregivers, managed care and more.

From HealthData Management: An online community web site for family members, nurses, social workers, and others who care for the aged and chronically ill have been developed by The National Family Caregivers Association and Intel Corp.

Consumers are able to view a variety of networks which caregivers can join, based on their needs and interests. There is also a section with information on chronic disease and conditions, and a section where patients can share their stories.

AllAfrica.com reports on legislation driving health transparency. Click through for an interesting take on health care transparency through another country's eyes.

South Africa: New Legislation On Medicines to Save Consumers 20 Percent.

Ron Winslow on the WSJ Health Blog posts insight on a recent JAHA study of preventable deaths resulting from cardiac bypass surgery. The study finds that 32% of CABG mortalities were preventable.

An interesting note from the article is that "Typical report cards do not provide the necessary detail to direct surgeons where to focus their quality improvement efforts."

Of perhaps even more interest is some follow-up Ron got from one of the co-authors:

iHealthBeat has this story: Recently, health care web sites have seen an increase in the number of hits. More interactive features are being developed providing reliable resources for medical information. Consumers are advised not to consider the information on a site to be a substitute for professional medical advice; however it provides useful tools and resources to assist patients.

Stacey Burling at the Philly news writes on hospital pricing::

It has been difficult for consumers to find out the exact cost hospitals charge for a procedure. With the increase of high-deductible insurance plans/no insurance, consumers have more of a reason to care and inquire about medical costs... Medicare has started publishing the amount they pay individual hospitals. This can allow patients to have a better understanding on what care actually costs.

North Country Gazette: The State of New York has released new legislation to fight fraud in the home health care industry.

The New York Certified Aide Registry and Employment Search Act (NY-CARES) developed a central registry of home health and personal care aides. They are currently working on a public internet-based registry that would include health care employment history, along with results of criminal background checks for aides employed.

iHealthBeat: A patient’s registry system has been developed in Vermont to track and manage the chronic disease care and quality improvements.

The goal of the registry system (provided by DocSite) is to target patients with chronic conditions who might not be receiving appropriate care.

More on Press Release: Vermont To Use Patient Registry To Track Chronic Disease Care

iHealthBeat: Two Web sites have been developed to allow consumers to update their friends and family members about their medical treatment and recovery process. Friends and family are able to post messages on these sites to provide support and encouragement for patients.

Robin at Managed Care Contracting recently sent us a link and we've added her blog to the roll on the right. Robin covers health care transparency from time to time, especially as it impacts the relationship between payors and providers.

Robin had also given us a heads-up about Arizona's new hospital compare site at www.azhospitalchoice.org, another site in the long line of hospital association-sponsored Web sites. It's old news now (my fault, not Robin's), but worth checking out.

iHealthbeat: A new Web site called ZocDoc is enabling patients to make same-day appointments online. The site is part of an ongoing effort to reduce emergency department visits, however it should only be utilized for non-emergencies. There are currently more than 100 physicians listed, including internists and dentists, while many dermatologists will be added this year.