The Health Care Cost Institute (HCCI) announced today that it will work
with three of the nation’s largest health insurance companies, Aetna,
Humana and UnitedHealthcare, to develop and provide consumers free
access to an online tool that will offer consumers the most
comprehensive information about the price and quality of health care
services.
The independent, not for profit HCCI will create and administer this
information portal, which is expected to be available in early 2015. The
health benefit companies will provide information on health care costs
to HCCI, which will maintain and manage access to the information in a
highly secure, protected environment. Other major carriers have
expressed interest and HCCI expects additional carriers to participate
in the near future and be part of the initial release in early 2015.
Participating insurers will continue to offer their own cost
transparency tools and solutions as well. The cost data will be
supplemented with quality and other information to provide consumers a
transparent and comprehensive destination to make more informed
decisions about health care.
“Consumers, employers and regulatory agencies will now have a single
source of consistent, transparent health care information based on the
most reliable data available, including actual costs, which only
insurers currently have,” said David Newman, Executive Director of HCCI.
“Voluntarily making this information available will be of immeasurable
value to consumers and other health system participants as they seek to
manage the cost and quality of care.”
Health care costs have been rising more than three times as fast as
wages. Official estimates project that U.S. health spending will reach
$4.7 trillion by the end of the decade - an 80 percent increase from
$2.6 trillion in 2010 - underlining the need to better understand the
prices of health care services to help make decisions and choices about
purchasing care.
The new transparency tool that HCCI is developing will aggregate pricing
data from commercial health plans, as well as Medicare Advantage and
Medicaid health plans, if the states agree. The information will
be available to consumers, purchasers, regulators and payers in an
accessible, comparable and easy-to-use format.
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For consumers, this will provide
consistent and accurate transparency in the shopping experience with
the most comprehensive cost data and quality information; uninsured
individuals can access more reliable information about the relative
prices of care, treatments and procedures;
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For employers, this will foster more
employee engagement in managing health care costs regardless of payer,
health plan or plan design. This will provide a seamless experience
regardless of payer;
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For care providers, this provides timely
and accurate information about costs and quality and allows them to
see information on other providers as well;
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For regulators, this provides a single
source of information to support market studies, including evaluation
of market efficiency and accurate review of cost drivers. This will
help inform geographic rate adjustments and provide guidance for
addressing important public policy issues;
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For payers, this provides the most
accurate and timely data to meet customer needs and protects
proprietary data while allowing customers access to multi-payer
information.
“The HCCI governing board is pleased by the trust the participating
insurers are placing in the Institute. The foresight and commitment of
these insurers to create a national resource for consumers, employers
and policy makers is without precedent,” said Stephen T. Parente, Chair
of HCCI’s governing board. “This new transparency initiative seeks to
ensure that every American gets the best value out of their national
investment.”
HCCI expects the transparency platform will continue to be refined in
subsequent releases after its introduction. For example, future updates
of the tool are expected to include more comparison features and, in the
longer term, data from fee-for-service Medicare and Medicaid programs,
as and when it becomes available.
About the Health Care Cost Institute
The Health Care Cost Institute was launched in 2011 to promote
independent, nonpartisan research and analysis on the causes of the rise
in U.S. health spending. For more information, visit www.healthcostinstitute.org
or follow us on Twitter @healthcostinstitute.
About Aetna
Aetna is one of the nation's leading diversified health care benefits
companies, serving an estimated 44 million people with information and
resources to help them make better informed decisions about their health
care. Aetna offers a broad range of traditional, voluntary and
consumer-directed health insurance products and related services,
including medical, pharmacy, dental, behavioral health, group life and
disability plans, and medical management capabilities, Medicaid health
care management services, workers' compensation administrative services
and health information technology products and services. Aetna's
customers include employer groups, individuals, college students,
part-time and hourly workers, health plans, health care providers,
governmental units, government-sponsored plans, labor groups and
expatriates. For more information, see www.aetna.com
and the 2014
Aetna story about how Aetna is helping to build a healthier world.
About Humana
Humana Inc., headquartered in Louisville, Ky., is a leading health and
well-being company focused on making it easy for people to achieve their
best health with clinical excellence through coordinated care. The
company’s strategy integrates care delivery, the member experience, and
clinical and consumer insights to encourage engagement, behavior change,
proactive clinical outreach and wellness for the millions of people
Humana serves across the country.
About UnitedHealthcare
UnitedHealthcare is dedicated to helping people nationwide live
healthier lives by simplifying the health care experience, meeting
consumer health and wellness needs, and sustaining trusted relationships
with care providers. The company offers the full spectrum of health
benefit programs for individuals, employers and Medicare and Medicaid
beneficiaries, and contracts directly with more than 800,000 physicians
and care professionals, and 6,000 hospitals and other care facilities
nationwide. Globally, UnitedHealthcare serves more than 45 million
people in health benefits and is one of the businesses of UnitedHealth
Group (NYSE:UNH), a diversified Fortune 50 health and well-being company.
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Copyright Business Wire 2014