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CMS to post information on procedures and admissions

Healthcare Strategist Trend Watch, June 2, 2006

In an effort to help consumers, providers, and payers make more informed healthcare decisions, the Department of Health and Human Services through its Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) will post information on what Medicare pays for 30 common elective procedures and other hospital admissions.

"Once people gain better information, they become better consumers of healthcare and that helps get healthcare costs down and quality of care up," HHS Secretary Mike Leavitt said in a June 1 press release. "The federal government is the biggest single purchaser of healthcare in America, and by taking steps to post prices and quality data, we hope to encourage more insurance companies, hospitals, clinics, and doctors to do the same."

The new information posted online by CMS at www.cms.hhs.gov/HealthCareConInit/01_Overview.asp shows the range of payments by county and the number of cases treated at each hospital for a variety of treatments provided to seniors and people with disabilities in fiscal year 2005.

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