Healthcare transparency

In June, a botched gallbladder surgery at Massachusetts's Milford Regional medical Center cost a woman her kidney. Since then, the five members of Surgical Associates of Milford have publicly distanced themselves from the hospital because the hospital's CEO has declined to name the doctor who made the mistake. The Surgical Associates of Milford say that since the incident, several patients have canceled surgery because they were concerned about the error. "This surgeon who was involved in …

Twenty Blue Cross Blue Shield plans around the nation will participate in Blue Health Intelligence, a massive data-mining project that will make information available on a range of health trends and measures. The object of the database is to enable employers, consumers and providers learn what type of healthcare works best based on information gathered from 79 million people. Initially, the HIPAA-compliant data will be available only to employers, but consumers and providers will …