Medical prices today are all voodoo and black magic. Tell me one other industry where customers make purchase decisions without even knowing what the cost of the product or service is going to be? A group called the APCD Council is out to change that.
The APCD Council is a learning collaborative of government, private, non-profit, and academic organizations focused on improving the development and deployment of state-based all payer claims databases (APCDs). The Council is convened and coordinated by the New Hampshire Institute for Health Policy and Practice (NHIHPP) at the University of New Hampshire (UNH) and the National Association of Health Data Organizations (NAHDO).
A fundamental aspect of capitalism is competition, with sellers providing quotes for their products or services and consumers making the ultimate call about whether a quoted price is “worth it”. The BEST WAY to take the price-gouging out of health insurance policies, which rose on average about 25% over the past year, is to shine a great big light on the prices being charged, by whom, and where.
When you visit the APCD Council home page, you see a graphic which shows the status of state-based all payer claims databases in each state. California shows up as a rather dismal shade of grey. Fortunately, that appears to be changing, thanks to Gov. Brown’s recent action.
Omnibus health trailer bill approved by Gov. Brown
Emily Boerger | Jul 5, 2018Governor Brown approved the Omnibus Health Trailer Bill last week. The bill makes revisions to various health care programs in order to implement the 2018-19 state budget.
Among the many changes introduced in the bill are several new health care councils and programs. Specifically, the bill directs the Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development (OSHPD) to create the Health Care Cost Transparency Database. The database will bring together information from health insurers, health care services plans, and other payers to increase payment and pricing transparency and to inform policy decisions.
Here’s an interesting bit related to Single Payer:
The bill also “establishes the intent of the Legislature” to provide health coverage through a single financing system and creates the Council on Health Care Delivery System to develop a plan to implement health care delivery system changes.
But wait, there is more ...
Also included in the health trailer bill is an expansion of the Black Infant Health Program, which uses evidence-based strategies to prevent black infant mortality and preterm births. The bill establishes the California Perinatal Equity Initiative to provide funding to county health departments to improve their birth outcomes. The bill also extends treatment for individuals in the state-funded Breast and Cervical Cancer treatment Program and authorizes an “Incompetent to Stand Trial Mental Health Diversion” program.
The APCD Council is a group worth following. In other news from the council, Washington state just launched an online tool that lets patients compare prices for medical procedures.
If you or a loved one needed knee replacement surgery, would you want to know which surgeon in your community has the highest rating for quality of care? Would you like to know how much a knee replacement costs, on average, at all of the medical offices close to your home?
Those are the types of information easily accessed through Washington state’s new HealthCareCompare website, an online tool that launched today. The user-friendly website is part of the state’s larger effort to make health care costs more transparent, and gives the public access to health care price and quality information from the Washington All-Payer Claims Database. The database is the result of legislation proposed by the governor.