Delegates tackle complexities of price transparency data

The AMA moves to monitor health plans' transparency initiatives as insurers announce a spate of new projects.

By Tyler Chin, AMNews staff. July 3, 2006.

Chicago -- The AMA House of Delegates approved a report directing the AMA to closely monitor any pricing "transparency" initiatives by health plans to ensure that plans provide accurate information and to assess the impact of those initiatives on physicians.

Insurers are giving the AMA plenty to monitor. During and prior to the AMA Annual Meeting, held June 10-14 in Chicago, several insurers announced plans to give their members online access to pricing information, enabling them to know the cost of medical services before they walk into a physician's office or a hospital:

• On June 13, Aetna Inc. announced that it is expanding the transparency program it tested last year in Cincinnati, northern Kentucky and southeast Indiana to an additional 11 markets. Effective Aug. 18, Aetna will offer physician-specific information on cost, clinical quality or both to members in those markets as well as Connecticut; Washington, D.C.; northern Virginia.; Cleveland, Columbus, Dayton and Springfield, Ohio; south Florida; Kansas City, Kan.; Las Vegas and Pittsburgh.
• UnitedHealth Group in late May announced it will offer hospital specific-cost and quality data to members in Colorado as part of an initiative that will be rolled out nationwide by year's end.
• The BlueCross BlueShield Assn. in June announced a program involving 17 Blues plans giving their members access to hospital pricing and quality data. Several of those plans, including Highmark Blue Cross Blue Shield and Independence Blue Cross, both in Pennsylvania, also are offering physician cost data.