Transparency
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Welcome to the HCCI blog – HealthyBytes!
Read more: Welcome to the HCCI blog – HealthyBytes!We’ve launched a blog to expand the way in which we share findings and insights based on our data with the wider world. While we remain committed to our signature publications such as our annual Health Care Cost and Utilization Report and our Issue and Data Briefs, sometimes a finding is just too interesting to…
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Modern Healthcare: Q&A with Brennan – “You are going to have more of an interest in what services actually cost”
Read more: Modern Healthcare: Q&A with Brennan – “You are going to have more of an interest in what services actually cost”Three months ago, Niall Brennan was appointed president and executive director of the Health Care Cost Institute, a not-for-profit organization based in Washington, D.C., that focuses on improving price transparency through the use of insurance data. He succeeds David Newman, a health policy expert who had led the organization since its founding in 2011. Brennan…
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NBC News: U.S. Health Care Prices Are All Over the Map, New Study Finds
Read more: NBC News: U.S. Health Care Prices Are All Over the Map, New Study FindsBy: Maggie Fox Why does a knee replacement cost $29,000 in Kansas but $40,000 in next-door Colorado? Health care prices are all over the map in the U.S., a new study finds. It digs deeply into the crazy pattern of health costs across the U.S. and shows there is very little consistency. The report from the…
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Slate: A Failed Cure for Health Care Costs
Read more: Slate: A Failed Cure for Health Care CostsBy: Helaine Olen It’s a new year, and you know what that means: Your health insurance deductible just reset. Which for many of us means looking forward to paying a significant amount out of pocket for health care until we’ve spent enough for our insurance payments to kick in. According to the Henry J. Kaiser…
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Necessary versus Sufficient Claims Data
Read more: Necessary versus Sufficient Claims DataThis data brief compares membership characteristics and health care service prices in non-ERISA and ERISA populations. The results suggest that non-ERISA data may be sufficient for policy relevant analyses, even when ERISA data is not available.
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Healthzette: The Health Savings We’re Missing – Cost transparency tools exist … yet we’re not using them
Read more: Healthzette: The Health Savings We’re Missing – Cost transparency tools exist … yet we’re not using themBy: Kristen Fischer We have the tools to shop around and save on health care costs — but we aren’t using them. A new Harvard Medical School study reveals that consumer access to price transparency tools doesn’t make them any more popular or likely to decrease health care spending. Do we not want to save…
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NPR: That Surgery Might Cost You A Lot Less In Another Town
Read more: NPR: That Surgery Might Cost You A Lot Less In Another TownBy: Alison Kodjak Need knee replacement surgery? It may be worthwhile to head for Tucson. That’s because the average price for a knee replacement in the Arizona city is $21,976, about $38,000 less than it would in Sacramento, Calif. That’s according to a report issued Wednesday by the Health Care Cost Institute. The report, called…
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Forbes: Don’t Be Fooled – Patients Can Shop For Healthcare
Read more: Forbes: Don’t Be Fooled – Patients Can Shop For HealthcareBy: Yevgeniy Feyman Price and quality transparency in health care has often been seen as the missing link for extracting more value out of our health care system. With the appropriate financial incentives, along with easily accessible cost estimators and information on physician and hospital quality, patients could flock to the lowest-cost, highest-quality providers. But…
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The Washington Post: Why Savvy Shoppers Can’t Fix Health-Care Spending
Read more: The Washington Post: Why Savvy Shoppers Can’t Fix Health-Care SpendingIn an article from Carolyn Johnson of The Washington Post, it is postulated that there are many different reasons Americans cannot fix the often high prices of health care. “One popular view of how to corral out-of-control health-care spending is to empower smart shoppers — to arm individual patients with the information and incentives to shop around for…
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Spending on Shoppable Services in Health Care
Read more: Spending on Shoppable Services in Health CareThis issue brief examines health care spending on shoppable services in 2011. Contrary to expectations, giving consumers prices so they can shop for health care services may only have a modest effect on reducing health spending. Key Findings: In 2011, about 43% of the $524.2 billion spent on health care services for commercially insured people…