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June 12, 2006
New site will help HSA owners compare hospital statistics
For the average person, hospital choice is often based on health-insurance company requirements, proximity to home and recommendations from doctors, family and friends.
More quantitative data traditionally has been hard to come by, especially in an easily comparative format.
But as employers shift more of the health care decision-making and spending responsibility to workers, access to comparative data is becoming more necessary so that individuals can make smart decisions about when and how to spend their money.
Beginning in July, consumers will be able to compare southeast Michigan hospital quality, safety and cost information by logging on to a new Web site.
The Greater Detroit Area Health Council plans to launch a Web site next month that will provide easy-to-read, reliable, comparative information on each of the 41 hospitals in southeast Michigan.
The health council hopes to take the first step toward making that information available to southeast Michigan residents when it announces its planned Web site, www.savelivessavedollars.org, today at the Detroit Regional Chamber's Leadership Policy Conference on Mackinac Island.
The health council -- known as GDAHC -- is a nonprofit organization dedicated to improving community health care quality and reducing costs for southeast Michigan residents. Its members include business, labor, health care providers, health plans and community agencies.
The Web site it plans to launch next month will allow individual consumers to search data based on what's most important to them: number of patients, mortality rates, complication rates, lengths of stay and cost.
GDAHC will collect the data from the national Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. Hospitals are required to report the standardized quality data to the federal health organization.
"This is a Web site that will help consumers learn about hospitals and their performance," said health council President and CEO Vernice Davis Anthony. "It will become a one-stop portal for health care information."
Kate Kohn-Parrott, director of integrated health care and disability for the Chrysler Group, said the new Web site is essential for creating an environment for healthier people and smarter consumers in the region.
"One of the things we're trying to do at the Chrysler Group is to make sure we have informed consumers," Kohn-Parrott said. "If you buy a stereo today you can go on the Internet and compare quality and cost. When you think about health, that data doesn't exist. ... This information is going to help" consumers "make better health care decisions."
Initially, the Web site will only contain hospital performance data, but over the next 10 to 12 months, it will expand to provide other data and health care information such as questions to ask your doctor, Anthony said.
The Web site is the latest offshoot of GDAHC's multiyear Save Lives, Save Dollars initiative. It is aimed at improving health care quality and reducing costs across southeastern Michigan.
The council estimates start-up and operating costs for the Web site at about $200,000 annually for the first couple years. The money is coming out of the Save Live, Save Dollars budget. The money was contributed by about 30 organizations, including automakers, health plans, physicians groups and insurers.
"In terms of improving quality and reducing costs, the consumer Web site is an important piece of the puzzle because it will provide reliable, quality and comparative information," General Motors Corp. Executive Director of Health Care Initiatives Woody Williams said in a news release.
"It is an important driver that will encourage our health care providers to provide the right care at the right time. ... We expect to see health care costs decrease."
At HSA for America, we believe more of this type information needs to become available in all states.
Posted by Wiley Long at June 12, 2006 10:24 AM