Massachusetts state regulators on Friday approved a plan to begin posting online all insurer payments to hospitals for specific procedures, a move that state officials think will encourage consumers to consider different hospitals and reduce medical costs, the Boston Globe reports.
The state's Health Care Quality and Cost Council by March plans to begin posting the information, which will include insurer payments and quality information for certain procedures.
About two years ago, New Hampshire began disclosing similar data online for care comparisons, including emergency department visits, CT and MRI scans, arthroscopic knee surgery and childbirth. New Hampshire's program, which does not use corresponding quality measures, posts average payments from individual insurers.
Massachusetts, posts average payments from all insurers combined, but Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick (D) plans to propose a change in the law that would allow the posting of average payments from each of the state's insurers, the Globe reports.
The New Hampshire program was launched too recently to know what the long-term impact on state medical prices will be, according to the Globe. Some in the health care industry say that posting the information could have unintended consequences.
Thomas Lee, a council member and president of the physician network for Partners HealthCare System, said hospitals that receive lower payments than their competitors could use that information to demand more money from insurers in negotiations, which would increase costs rather than reduce them (Kowalczyk, Boston Globe, 9/22).