iHealthBeat: The North Carolina Institute of Medicine has launched a new web site to help uninsured residents find health care services.
Consumers can view information on safety-net services, offering health care at no cost or at a reduced cost. Their mission is to provide free and reduced cost healthcare services to North Carolina residents.
AHA News: The Wisconsin Association of Health Plans are currently implementing plans to allow health plan enrollees have out-of-pocket cost estimates available.
Beginning September 1st, enrollees can request an estimate of out-of-pocket costs before receiving services.
Health Plans Under Association
The Commonwealth Fund has launched state scorecards on children’s health system performance. Thirteen performance indicators of access, quality, costs, equity, and the potential to lead healthy lives were measured.
The Commonwealth Fund has illustrated an interactive United States map providing state-specific details for consumers.
Fierce Healthcare: CIGNA has launched a national web site ranking doctors and hospitals by cost and quality measures. The web site also provides its beneficiaries with additional tools to help them obtain care.
The CIGNA web site names hospitals in specific regions with the lowest death and complication rates. It offers a list of questions patients can ask their doctor in regards to a specific condition. They have also developed a patients tools section to help viewers locate nearby pharmacies with the lowest prices.
More on Press Release:
Hi-Wire: The Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield (Anthem) in Maine announced the expansion of its industry-leading transparency initiative. Anthem members are now able to use the ‘Anthem Care Comparison’ online tool. It provides the total estimated costs for nearly 40 specific medical procedures performed at local area hospitals.
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.
AHA NEWS: The Nebraska Hospital Association recently launched 'Care Compare', a Web site offering easy access to charge information for several types of inpatient care at the state’s hospitals.
Consumers can use the site to compare a hospital’s average charges by severity level with those for other hospitals across the state. Consumers are also able to view information on the number of discharges, average length of stay and average age of patients.
iHealthBeat:
Oregon expands their Hospital Comparison Web Site. Oregon officials have posted online the second year of data on hospital service costs, including cost information for 14 new procedures and conditions, the Portland Business Journal reports.
iHealthBeat: The Arizona Hospital and Healthcare Association launched a new Web site that allows patients to compare the average and median charges for medical services at 80 hospitals statewide.
According to John Rivers, CEO of the health care association, Arizona's Hospital Choice, will allow consumers for the first time to compare charges for any type of inpatient procedure in Arizona.
The Web site includes:
OutofPocket.com, a technology startup dedicated to promoting health care transparency and competition, announced the launch of its new search engine. The search engine enables consumers to look up prices and comparison shop for health care services by searching for price data across websites.
An earlier version of their website was launched in July 2007. It provided consumers with a platform to collaborate and expose the true prices of routine health care services.
The Florida Senate is expected to consider a bill that would require hospitals to post the pricing information of 150 commonly performed medical procedures on a state Web site, iHealthBeat reports.
Principles to Guide Physician Performance Reporting: Leading consumer, employer and labor organizations recently announced a comprehensive national agreement with leading physician groups and health insurers. They have developed a guide on how health plans measure a doctors' performance-reporting the information to consumers.
US News and World Report: Hospitals Compare on Patient Satisfaction
According to the article, roughly two thirds of all hospitals submit their data and only about 100 opted to suppress it. Hiding the information will not be permitted for future submissions. Hospitals that opt out will find their Medicare reimbursements for inpatient care cut by 2 percent starting July 2008.
Health Grades, an independent healthcare ratings company, is partnering with Google to make independent information on doctors and hospitals, based on quality and cost, accessible via Google Health – a new product that is currently being pilot-tested with the Cleveland Clinic, reports HealthImaging.com.
Oregon Association of Hospitals and Health Systems (OAHHS) has adopted a uniform set of guidelines, in the form of a resolution, to ensure that no patient (or payer) will pay for hospital care related to an adverse event. This resolution establishes those uniform guidelines regarding payment for serious adverse events.
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