On Tuesday, the Arizona Hospital and Healthcare Association launched a new Web site that allows patients to compare the average and median charges for medical services at 80 hospitals statewide, the Tucson Citizen reports.
John Rivers, CEO of the health care association, said the Web site, called the Arizona Hospital Choice, will allow consumers for the first time to compare charges for any type of inpatient procedure in Arizona.
The Web site includes:
- Average length of stay;
- Average charge per day;
- Percentage of male and female patients;
- Number of patients; and
- Median patient age (Rowley, Tucson Citizen, 5/7).
The site also provides links to hospital Web sites, which administrators hope will help patients understand hospital payment policies.
The site does not include data on the cost of services by surgeons, anesthesiologists or other medical providers, or the rates insurance companies negotiate with hospitals.
The Arizona Web site is modeled after a similar site created by a Wisconsin hospital trade group. The Arizona site will be updated twice a year, beginning this fall.
Arizona has collected hospital data for more than 20 years under a 1985 state law. The hospital association hopes to eventually provide quality data on the site, but the information is not currently available for all Arizona hospitals (Reinhart,
East Valley Tribune, 5/7).
E-Prescribing
Meanwhile, Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano (D) issued an executive order to increase electronic prescribing to boost patient safety, Government Technology reports. Fewer than 3% of Arizona's current health providers use e-prescribing.
The order calls on the state's executive branch agencies to develop awareness and use of medication safety tools (Government Technology, 5/6).
The executive order is available online (.pdf).