CQ HealthBeat on Friday examined the Bush administration's plan to disclose price and quality data from health care providers. According to HHS Secretary Mike Leavitt, government analysts will examine claims data from Medicare, Medicaid, the Department of Defense and Federal Employee Health Benefits programs so that "price and quality data will be available for each hospital and doctor." The initiative, called the "Payer Power" plan, aims to publish the total costs of procedures, although insured patients pay a fraction of those costs on the Medicare Web site. In addition, HHS will analyze six metropolitan markets, after which Leavitt will ask the markets' largest employers to join the federal government's program to try to influence health care providers to provide pricing and quality information. Health care providers and insurers would have to disclose the quality and prices of their care for 20 of the most common medical procedures in order to conduct business with the participating employers. The program, which aims to promote health savings accounts, also will try to pressure providers to adopt health information technology, according to CQ HealthBeat.

Leavitt's Comments
According to Leavitt, who spoke on Tuesday at the Commonwealth Club in San Francisco, pricing information could help uninsured individuals bargain with care providers for better deals. Leavitt added, "Take hip replacement surgery, for example. It would change the health care world if people could know, before their operation, what the overall package price is going to be, including lab tests, anesthesia, rehab costs, as well as specific information on quality, such as complication rates and patient satisfaction." He said, "As first steps toward full electronic health records, insurers, administrators and providers will be asked to use an interoperable electronic registration system that will do away with the medical clipboard as we know it." Leavitt continued, "We would like payers to make health savings accounts a voluntary option on their menu of health insurance plans. That will be a very important and a powerful step forward. There are currently 3.5 million people who have adopted health savings accounts and that trend will grow" because "more people will buy insurance when it is $300 a month than when it is $600 a month. It's as simple as that" (Reichard, CQ HealthBeat, 3/17).

Price Data for Sale?
In related news, a Colorado company on Monday began selling price data through its Web site for 42 medical procedures, the AP/Long Island Newsday reports. According to the AP/Newsday, HealthGrades will generate a detailed cost report for a procedure based on ZIP code, age, gender and insurance for $7.95. The reports include expected out-of-pocket costs for insured patients, average price negotiated by health insurers in the region and the average amount charged by the provider, according to Scott Shapiro, a spokesperson for HealthGrades. He said, "What this helps an individual do is to shop for health care, which is a very new concept. But because individuals are paying an increasing amount from out of pocket for their health care, they are increasingly looking for information that helps them shop for health care" (Sarche, AP/Long Island Newsday, 3/20).