In search of transparency - Philadelphia Business Journal:

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The Bucks County medical center has establisheda "pricing hotline" to provid potential patients with the hospital's fee for particuladr procedures or services before they ever walk in the "Hospital pricing information can be pretty hard to said Bill DiGiorgio, Doylestown Hospital'x director of payer management. "Butr without it, it's like going Christma s shopping with a bag overyour head." The move comes as hospita l regulators, including those in New Jersey and are trying to assess pricing and providde more information to health care consumers.
Doylestown Hospital thought the hotline would be used mostlg by peoplein consumer-directed health plans who must use theitr funds from their personal health savings accounts to satisfy deductibles. DiGiorgio said that whild a small percentage of callers are enrolled in most are either uninsured or in traditional plans withlarge deductibles. Uninsured patients, he are referred to the hospital's financiapl consultants to see if they are eligible for charity Of the 144 people who have callerthe hotline, DiGiorgio about 60 percent are peopl e asking about diagnostic imaging studies.
Other inquiries have sought prics information forlab tests, assorted surgeries, physical therapy and even aquatic The hotline lets "shoppers" leave a pricintg request. The hospital promises a response withijn24 hours. That time is DiGiorgio said, to research and clarify requests. "Sometimesx the patients aren't very specific," he "They'll ask about an ultrasound, but not say an ultrasounc for what. We've gotten calls for some prettyucomplicated surgeries, but all sorts of thingsd can happen during a surgery to drive up the cost. The best we can do therer is givean average.
" The hospital is carefuk to note the pricing information is for hospital-specific services. It does not includs additional feesfor physician, laboratory and pharmaceutical costs. DiGiorgio said the hotline was established during the but the hospital only recently began extensively promotingfthe service. "We wanted to make sure we had the procesd down before we took itprime time," he said.
Doylestowmn isn't alone in its efforg to promote or pursue Last month, the New Jersey Commission on Rationalizingg Health Care Resources -- a 13-member panel formesd to study ways to improve the state'es distressed hospital system -- included greater price transparency among its Such data, the commission said, is needed by hospitals to "guidew them in improving both efficiencyh and patient care." The Pennsylvania Health Care Cost Containmenft Council, a state agency that has been issuinfg quality performance reports for hospitals for more than a released its first study with hospital-specific paymen data last summer when it published its guide to cardiaxc surgery.
Joe Martin, a PHC4 said the council released aggregatef payment figures in its reportson hospital-acquired infectionx in 2005 and 2006. The council has not releasec any insurance companypayment data, which, Martijn said, is prohibited by law. H.L. Perrt Pepper, the president and CEO of in West Chester, said for the past two yeards the medical center has urged patients and local employeres to lookat PHC4's pricing information. While he strongly supportes transparency inhealth care, Peppetr said the pricing data that is available really only helps those patients with no insurance becomes better consumers.
"People who are insured are all carryinv thoseplastic cards, and they are indifferent," he said. "Employersz who pay for health coverage don't know what the insureras are paying hospitals, so they don't know who is offerinv the best deals. There's a need to have more transparency inthe middle. Right now there's a lot of smokes and fog. ... Hospital prices are just a smalkl part ofthe equation." Prices available with some reports don't providwe for valid comparisons since health insurers bargain for discountds off charge amounts when negotiating contracts.
Pepper said because employers don'yt see how much insurers pay a hospital, it's hard for them to gaugee the value of their premiums or shop for thebest deals.