Wednesday, August 16, 2006
New health care pricing site launched
[Fred Schuster, "Health-care transparency," Letter to the Editor, The Kansas City Star, 15 August 2006.]
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Kansas City Regional director Fred Schuster announces the launch of a new tool for health care consumers in this letter, as well as making the case for a new approach to health care generally:
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services is resolving to find ways to increase the quality of care while reducing costs. To do so, we need to do three things: People need to know how much their health care costs. They need to know the quality of the care they receive. And they need to have a reason to care. None of these things exist in our current system.
Consumers should be able to go to an Internet site, type in the name of a medical procedure and make the comparisons. They should be able to see a facility rated by quality, cost and how many patients undergo that procedure there each year.
As a first step, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid have posted on their Web site 30 of the most common medical procedures by state with their costs (http://www.cms.hhs.gov/healthcareconinit).
Transparency in health care is empowering you with information you need when considering a medical procedure.
[Mary Katherine Stout and Matthew Hisrich, "Seeing Through the Cost of Health Care: Consumer-Driven Price Transparency in Kansas," The Flint Hills Center, 6 July 2006.
Mary Katherine Stout and Matthew Hisrich, "Price transparency important," The Salina Journal, 12 July 2006.]
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Kansas City Regional director Fred Schuster announces the launch of a new tool for health care consumers in this letter, as well as making the case for a new approach to health care generally:
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services is resolving to find ways to increase the quality of care while reducing costs. To do so, we need to do three things: People need to know how much their health care costs. They need to know the quality of the care they receive. And they need to have a reason to care. None of these things exist in our current system.
Consumers should be able to go to an Internet site, type in the name of a medical procedure and make the comparisons. They should be able to see a facility rated by quality, cost and how many patients undergo that procedure there each year.
As a first step, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid have posted on their Web site 30 of the most common medical procedures by state with their costs (http://www.cms.hhs.gov/healthcareconinit).
Transparency in health care is empowering you with information you need when considering a medical procedure.
[Mary Katherine Stout and Matthew Hisrich, "Seeing Through the Cost of Health Care: Consumer-Driven Price Transparency in Kansas," The Flint Hills Center, 6 July 2006.
Mary Katherine Stout and Matthew Hisrich, "Price transparency important," The Salina Journal, 12 July 2006.]
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