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Massachusetts to post hospital prices

Quality Improvement Monitor, September 28, 2007

Massachusetts next year will start posting the prices hospitals are paid by insurers for specific procedures -- data state officials hope will spur consumer comparison shopping and drive down medical costs, according to the Boston Globe.

The Bay State's new Health Care Quality and Cost Council also plans to include quality information for the procedures for which it decides to disclose payments, the Globe said.

If a hospital charges far more than its competitors for treating heart attack or pneumonia patients, but has lower quality scores, consumers might determine the extra cost is not justified, the paper said. The information is scheduled to go online in March.

Dolores Mitchell, a council member and executive director of the state's Group Insurance Commission, told the Globe that "shining a bright light" on costs will let "the public know how each institution compares and whether there is a justification for one hospital to be twice as expensive as another."

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