A group of new bills currently progressing in the Pennsylvania state legislature could change the way the state's consumers shop for healthcare. The bills, which are part of an overall health reform push by Gov. Ed Rendell (D), include a measure requiring the state's pharmacies to submit their retail prices on the 150 most popular drugs to the Pennsylvania Health Care Cost Containment Council. This measure would also call for the state to launch a hospital payment registry, which would detail payments hospitals received for the 150 most frequent admitting diagnoses and most-frequently dispensed drugs. The prices would need to include the amount uninsured patients pay, the amount patients with high-deductible plans pay, and the average payment accepted from standard health plans.
For more about the proposals:
- read this Pittsburgh Post-Gazette article [1]
Related Articles:
HCA posts hospital prices online. Report [2]
MN group posts hospital prices to Web. Report [3]
Maryland adds pricing to hospital guide. Report [4]
Interview: Price, quality and the Amish. Report [5]
Links:
[1] http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/07080/771081-28.stm
[2] http://www.fiercehealthcare.com/story/hca-posts-hospital-prices-online/2007-03-07
[3] http://www.fiercehealthcare.com/story/mn-group-posts-hospital-prices-to-web/2006-10-04
[4] http://www.fiercehealthcare.com/story/maryland-unveils-hospital-guide/2006-07-03
[5] http://www.fiercehealthcare.com/story/interview-price-quality-and-the-amish/2006-09-07