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States encouraging hospitals to show price lists

Patient Access Weekly Advisor, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, October 24, 2007

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Several states are asking hospitals to disclose their price lists, with the goal to remove some of the secrecy around hospital prices, thereby making the health care system more efficient and helping consumers, according to a story last week in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

Three states-New Hampshire, Oregon, and Massachusetts-have taken the lead in disclosing their median prices for certain procedures and services.

Although the information, based on insurance claims data, provides only estimates, those three states are the first to provide more information on hospital prices and how they can vary.

The prices that health plans negotiate with hospitals and clinics are generally confidential, and they vary widely. A hospital may charge different health plans different prices for the same procedure. Those prices can be thousands of dollars higher or lower than those of another hospital.

"You have to come up with a pretty good reason to justify not giving this information to people," Leslie Ludtke, a health policy analyst with the New Hampshire Insurance Department told the Sentinel.

As high-deductible health plans continue to increase, consumers may want more information on prices and quality of the services they need. People required to pay a percentage of their hospital bills through co-insurance could also find the information useful.

Encouraging people to look at price and quality when shopping for healthcare feeds the idea of consumer-driven health care-market forces can make the health care system more efficient, the Sentinel reports. It is anticipated that increasing competition will incite hospitals and doctors to improve quality while controlling costs.

To read the article in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, click here.

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