Oregon officials have posted online the second year of data on hospital service costs, including cost information for 14 new procedures and conditions, the Portland Business Journal reports.
The Web site, initially launched in August 2007, provides the average prices for more than 90 medical procedures and conditions at Oregon hospitals. The site also includes cost and quality comparisons for eight common procedures, such as heart failure, pneumonia and stroke.
The Web site's data are collected from the state's nine largest private health insurers. The site does not include information for Medicare, Oregon Health Plan and self-pay patients, the Business Journal reports.
Other Transparency Efforts
During the 2007 legislative session, Oregon Gov. Ted Kulongoski (D) signed several health care transparency bills, including legislation that requires health insurers to provide consumers with advance cost estimates for medical treatments and a bill that makes health insurance rate filings public once they are submitted to the state for review.
In addition, the Office for Oregon Health Policy and Research published hospital quality indicators and is developing a program to report hospital-acquired infections to boost consumers' knowledge of cost and care quality at Oregon hospitals (Portland Business Journal, 5/7).