The Michigan Health & Hospital Association joins a growing list of hospital associations, states and payers who have adopted policies to stop billing patients for certain serious preventable errors ("never events") and hospital-acquired conditions. This follows on from Medicare's decision to cease payment from 2008, for specific hospital medical errors.

Giorgi Lomsadze reports on Georgia’s healthcare system.

Georgia has launched the "100 Hospital Bill", where Private companies, such as pharmaceutical firms, are taking over public hospitals –aiming to improve quality services of facilities.

Read More on Giorgi Lomsadze’s Article: GEORGIA SAYS FAREWELL TO PUBLIC HEALTHCARE

Ga. to arm consumers with health care data: IBM has been contracted by the Georgia Department of Community Health (DCH) to develop a comparative data Web site, which is scheduled for completion this fall. The site will enable all health care consumers in Georgia to compare performance and costs for hospitals and physicians.

iHealthbeat reports that The Georgia Department of Community Health will provide $1 million for a Health IT Pilot Program, which will include a Web site for consumers on health care costs and quality, and to help providers adopt electronic health records,.

Consumers will be able to use the Web site to check prescription drug costs and get information on medical facilities' safety and quality rankings. The site is expected to launch in 2008.

AHA News reports that the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services will solicit home health agencies in seven states to participate in a two-year pay-for-performance demonstration to begin in January. The states are Alabama, California, Connecticut, Georgia, Illinois, Massachusetts and Tennessee.

The following is a summary of legislation by state regarding the disclosure by hospitals of their hospital infection rates.

Arkansas

HealthDecisions.org tracks 7 states movement towards improving health care quality and transparency thorugh legislation or executive order and their advance towards the promise of a value-driven health care system for more Americans. This report focuses on initiatives undertaken by Virginia, Kentucky, Georgia, Nevada, Arkansas, Utah and Oklahoma.

In June 2006, Aetna began providing consumers with online access to the rates it negotiates with physicians in several U.S. cities. In August 2006, Aetna posted new information that allows its members in some areas to access price data for the top 30 physician services, as well as physician performance data.

An reported today (03/30) in United Press International, Aetna will now provide Web access to its members to cost and quality data on individual doctors in five new cities. Physician data is available in all or parts of 16 states and the District of Columbia, giving one in five of the company's 36 million beneficiaries price information on their local doctors.