quality ratings
Some Calif. hospitals at odds with rating system
A year ago, a coalition that included hospitals, health plans, physicians and consumer advocates launched a site designed to help consumers judge the quality of care at California hospitals. The... Read more...
SPOTLIGHT: Leavitt seeks "Travelocity" for healthcare
Well, even he admits that we're miles away from this point, but someday, HHS secretary Mike Leavitt would like to see the industry establish a "Travelocity for healthcare" which would provide price... Read more...
BCBS of TN plans to share doctor ratings, prices
BlueCross BlueShield of Tennessee, the state's largest health insurer, said this week that it plans to begin offering doctor quality ratings and cost data to consumers in April. The Blue plan will... Read more...
WA insurers offer medical cost, quality info online
Washington state insurers have begun to give members more information on healthcare quality and costs, as well as what their neighbors think of local providers. Regence BlueShield, for example, will... Read more...
Seattle-area healthcare "checkup" finds deficiencies
A Seattle-area health alliance has conducted what it calls a "community checkup," examining care for more than 1.6 million patients--and concluded that performance was below current standards on many... Read more...
CO providers struggling with infection-rate reporting
The deadline set by the Colorado state legislature for certain providers to report acquired infections has come and gone, but nobody's turned in their reports yet. It's looking like it will take at... Read more...
Unclear on how hospital data affects decisions
While public policy is very much in favor of providing detailed data on hospital performance and quality, there's little evidence to suggest that this data actually affects patient decisions,... Read more...
Tenet may be ready for comeback
For several years, Tenet has been struggling to pull itself back together financially, after being pounded by both scandals within and brutal industry conditions without. Now, however, some observers... Read more...
WellPoint rolling out physician reviews system
WellPoint has announced that it expects to roll out its planned physician reviews system sometime during the first quarter of this year in partnership with restaurant reviews giant Zagat. As planned,... Read more...
Progress slow on hospital data in IL
When advocates vent over the slow adoption of consumer-driven healthcare spending, one place they should look is Illinois. The problems encountered there in becoming a more consumer-driven health... Read more...
