The Texas Hospital Association (THA) has become the latest industry group to promote price transparency and allow for comparison shopping, joining Wisconsin, New Mexico, Oregon, Washington, New Hampshire and several other states with similar initiatives in place. To accomplish this objective, the THA has launched a new site [1], Texas PricePoint, which pulls together charge data on the most common inpatient services provided by Texas hospitals. The new site also offers links to data and broad information on the state's hospitals.Texas PricePoint not only offers the data by individual hospital, but also offers tools which allow users to compare multiple hospital prices side by side. The data used by THA is supplied by the hospitals, and will be updated quarterly.
To get up to speed on the THA initiative:
- read the group's press release [2]
- read the Austin Business Journal piece [3]
Related Articles:
MN group posts hospital prices to Web. Report [4]
MD unveils hospital guide. Report [5]
Interview: Price, quality and the Amish. Report [6]
HCA posts hospital prices online. Report [7]
Links:
[1] http://www.txpricepoint.org/
[2] http://www.thaonline.org/PressRoom/index.asp#33
[3] http://www.bizjournals.com/austin/stories/2007/03/26/daily9.html?b=1174881600^1437978
[4] http://www.fiercehealthcare.com/story/mn-group-posts-hospital-prices-to-web/2006-10-04
[5] http://www.fiercehealthcare.com/story/maryland-unveils-hospital-guide/2006-07-03
[6] http://www.fiercehealthcare.com/story/interview-price-quality-and-the-amish/2006-09-07
[7] http://www.fiercehealthcare.com/story/hca-posts-hospital-prices-online/2007-03-07