California scores poorly on posting healthcare prices, report says

Wed Apr 3 23:27:50 PDT 2013

March 18, 2013

California scores poorly on posting healthcare prices, report says

Los Angeles Times

By Chad Terhune

California consumers don't have easy access to prices for medical care, according to a national report card that gave the state a letter grade of D for its dismal showing.

Overall, 36 states received grades of D or F in the report issued Monday by two nonprofit healthcare groups that analyzed government efforts to make pricing information widely available to consumers. This issue has taken on added importance in recent years as patients shoulder a growing share of healthcare costs from higher deductibles and other insurance changes.

The two organizations, the Catalyst for Payment Reform andHealth Care Incentives Improvement Institute, looked at state laws on requiring doctors and hospitals to share prices, whether the data was available on public websites and the ability of patients to request estimates before a hospital admission.

Only two states, Massachusetts and New Hampshire, earned A's on the report card.

"Without price transparency, consumers will continue to pay widely ranging amounts for the same exact services with no difference in quality," said Suzanne Delbanco, executive director of Catalyst for Payment Reform, an employer-backed group in San Francisco.

"Consumers want to know what are they going to pay out of pocket if they pick one provider over another. We hope this report card spurs states to act to help consumers further," Delbanco added.

Policy experts say greater disclosure of medical prices would enable patients to comparison shop and force healthcare providers to compete more on cost and quality.

"It should be concerning to every lawmaker in the country that 18% of the U.S. economy is shrouded in mystery," said Francois de Brantes, executive director of Health Care Incentives Improvement Institute in Newtown, Conn.

Under a state law that took effect in 2006, California hospitals must publish their average charges for the most common procedures on the website of the California Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development. But relatively few hospitals take the extra step of listing prices on their own websites.

The other problem, Delbanco said, is that no one pays those charges reported to the state website, not even the uninsured. Insured patients would be responsible for a reduced price negotiated by their insurer, and the discount would vary based on the company.

Officials at the statewide health planning office said the report card "neglects to note and credit California for the fact that the state requires all hospitals to report their inpatient, outpatient and emergency department charges to the state, and that this data is available to the public through various reports and products on the agency's website."

Some insurers and employers have tried to assist patients by creating new online tools that show a range of prices among network providers. Other sites such as fairhealthconsumer.org and healthcarebluebook.com offer consumers average prices by ZIP Code for many common services.

Bryan Sloane
Deputy Editor, CAL/AAEM News Service

Brian Potts MD, MBA
Managing Editor, CAL/AAEM News Service

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