A few more states get passing grades on price transparency

Price transparency in healthcare is becoming more prevalent in America, but the vast majority of states still do not readily provide it.

That's the conclusion of the newest report by the Health Care Incentives Improvement Institute and Catalyst for Payment Reform.

Altogether, seven states have received passing grades regarding their ability to provide healthcare price transparency to consumers. That's up from five states in the last report the two organizations issued on the topic.

Colorado, Maine and New Hampshire all received “A” grades. Oregon moved up to a “B” after receiving an “F” in the prior report. Virginia and Vermont both received “Cs.” Arkansas received a “D.”

All of the states that received passing grades operate all-claims payer databases, where pretty much every claim processed by a private insurer and what was paid is made available to the public. However, a recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling put the future of their growth in doubt. Those that received higher grades also operated websites that are easily accessible by consumers.

Although price transparency remains rare, there has been greater agitation for it in recent years. A former hospital CEO launched an online petition earlier this year to ask the White House to examine the issue. It has received more than 100,000 signatures to date.

"Real healthcare price transparency for consumers is dependent on rich data sources that provide meaningful price information on a wide range of procedures and services," said François de Brantes, executive director of HCI and lead author of the report, in a statement. "But that’s not enough. It must be presented on an accessible, publicly available website."

Oregon had the greatest improvement, receiving an “F” in the prior study. It began offering prices earlier this year through a website operated by the Oregon Association of Hospitals & Health Systems.

The report said that the state “can earn an even higher score if (it) collects practitioner prices in addition to facility prices and does so for a greater number of services and procedures.”

– read the price transparency report (.pdf)

– check out the statement