The U.S government released data on the rates Medicare pays hospitals for procedures ranging from heart surgery to hip and knee replacements. The data, which includes information on 30 common procedures as well as the number of operations performed at hospitals, is intended to help consumers make more educated health care choices. "Once people gain better information, they become better consumers of healthcare, and that helps get healthcare costs down and quality of care up," commented Health and Human Services Secretary Mike Leavitt.
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