The Washington State Hospital Association on Wednesday launched a new Web site that lets consumers compare cost and quality at the state's 97 hospitals, the Yakima Herald-Republic reports.
The Web site was created in response to requests by lawmakers and the public for more hospital-specific data, according to Cassie Sauer, spokesperson for the hospital association (Ward, Yakima Herald-Republic, 1/25).
The Web site includes hospital-specific charges for about 500 types of hospital treatments, the Puget Sound Business Journal reports. It also includes hospital-specific quality measures for heart attack, heart failure and pneumonia treatment, as well as for infection prevention (Neurath, Puget Sound Business Journal, 1/24). New care quality measures will be added to the site as they become available, Sauer said.
Residents also can access on the Web site the number of patients cared for under each service, average patient stays and payment data, such as charity care and government reimbursement levels. The site, however, cannot be used to determine how much a patient's hospital bill will be because of variations in insurance plans, the Herald-Republic reports. Data on the site come from the Washington State Department of Health and CMS (Yakima Herald-Republic, 1/25).
University of Washington economist Carolyn Watts said the Web site "changes the culture" of hospital transparency. She added, "It's not going to change things overnight, but it will get people used to the notion that such information exists, that they have a right to it and that it's useful" (Puget Sound Business Journal, 1/24).