Filling the healthcare information gap

An article in the Los Angeles Times looks at the information gap that prevents patients from effective comparison shopping when making their healthcare choices. The most onerous catch-22 of the consumer-driven healthcare plan movement is well known by those who follow the industry: In order to make more informed decisions, customers need better access to information. For the most part, that information just isn't there. That has led to a number of well-publicized efforts to increase transparency, such as California's chargemaster law and current proposals that would require hospitals and physicians to publish detailed accountings of their costs. Insurer-run Web sites like recent efforts by Aetna and PacifiCare attempt to shore up the breach by publishing detailed information. However, not everybody is sold on them.

- see this article from the Los Angeles Times

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