HHS Secretary Mike Leavitt on Thursday touted President Bush's recent executive order to build a nationwide database that compares the price and quality of health care, the Triangle Business Journal reports.
Electronic health records are essential to a network where patients can compare hospitals' prices, number of procedures completed and quality assessments, Leavitt said in a speech to the North Carolina Medical Society.
"Within two years, we'll begin to see a network where consumers will be able to get information on the cost of their care and the quality of their care," he added.
The initiative already has begun in North Carolina, according to Leavitt (Triangle Business Journal, 9/28).