California Regulators Find Many Problems with the Provider Directories That Health Insurers Make Available to Consumers

In California, a survey found significant inaccuracies in provider directories posted online—may trigger action by regulators to have insurers address this problem Transparency in healthcare is an important trend. In recent years, much attention has been given to increasing the transparency of the prices charged to patients by hospitals, physicians, and medical laboratories. But now the transparency trend is about to drive change in the provider directories that health insurance plans make...

More Workplace Tension in Hospitals and Clinics as Three Generations of Physicians—Baby Boomer, Gen X, and Gen Y—Try to Get Along

Growth in the number of employed physicians is contributing to heightened workplace tensions due to the cultural differences among the three generations now working together What happens when Gen Y, Gen X, and Baby Boomer physicians are employees in the same hospital, clinic, or medical laboratory? There can be a clash of expectations, values, and goals that may cause tension in the workplace. This happens when physicians, including pathologists, from different generations and different levels...

Aetna, Humana, and UnitedHealth Agree to Share Data with HCCI to Give Consumers a Free, Comprehensive Source for Comparing Healthcare Prices and Quality

Scheduled to launch in early 2015, the Health Care Cost Institute’s free online tool will give consumers access to data on provider prices and quality It’s a significant sign of the times when three of the nation’s biggest health insurance companies agree to share data on healthcare prices and utilization specifically so that consumers can access this information. This will advance price transparency. It will also put more pressure on clinical laboratories to make it easy for consumers to see...

Public Hospital in Phoenix Slashes Patient Self-Pay Prices by 50% to Increase Hospital Price Transparency

Maricopa Integrated Health System reports that price transparency pays off by reducing uncompensated care and increasing business Arizona has a new law that requires hospitals, medical laboratories, diagnostic imaging facilities, ambulatory surgery centers, and urgent-care centers to publish the prices they charge self-pay and uninsured patients for the 50 most common inpatient and outpatient services. The law took effect on January 1, 2014. News accounts report that just one hospital took...

Castlight Health Offers Employers a Cloud-based Price Transparency Tool to Help Employees Shop for Low-Cost, High Quality Health Services

Similar to Oscar Healthcare in New York, this California-based enterprise technology company offers services to make it easy for individuals to see providers’ prices, including medical laboratory test prices Another company has entered the marketplace with their unorthodox business model to support health insurance programs. One cornerstone feature is a tool that enables both employers and beneficiaries to see the prices of different providers. This young player in the health benefits...
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