Sunday, July 25, 2010

Healthcare Blue Book in the News

Healthcare Blue Book was included in 2 recent TV shows.

We did an interview for a story by Susan Koeppen on The Early Show on CBS News. You can see the full story and interview with Dr. Jeffrey Rice on the link above.

NBC 12 in Virginia also did a feature news cast on Healthcare Blue Book. You can see the interview with Aimee Stern and story here.

Sunday, July 18, 2010

Soceity of Acutuaries Support Pricing Transparency

The Society of Actuaries released a study supporting the need for pricing and quality transparency in health care.

In a recent release, Actuaries Believe More Transparency in the U.S. Healthcare System Would Help Bend the Cost Curve Downward, they report that creating more transparency between doctors and patients, and the provider community and patients, will be an effective approach at bending the cost curve downward. For example, 86 percent of the surveyed healthcare actuaries recommend making prices for treatments more visible and available for patients. Seventy-nine percent recommend educating consumers and providers on the efficacy of care.

In a separate survey they conducted of consumers, they found that two-thirds of those surveyed support the actuaries' recommendations on the benefits of transparency. Specifically, thirty-seven percent of consumers feel they could better control their own healthcare costs if healthcare providers – or their insurance company – told them about the costs of medical services and the quality of the outcome of procedures. And thirty percent feel they could better control their healthcare costs if, before administering a medical procedure, their physician informed them about the costs of the procedure, the number of times he/she has performed the procedure, and its results.

Healthcare Blue Book is working with provider groups, employers and insurance companies to promote pricing and quality transparency. Employers see transparency as one of the best ways to improve quality and lower costs.