Comments on: Health Care Quality & Cost Council Web Site Delays http://www.letstalkhealthcare.org/transparency/health-care-quality-cost-council-web-site-delays/ Tue, 06 Jan 2009 23:34:28 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.5.1 By: John Greenbaum http://www.letstalkhealthcare.org/transparency/health-care-quality-cost-council-web-site-delays/#comment-5717 John Greenbaum Fri, 15 Aug 2008 17:21:50 +0000 http://www.letstalkhealthcare.org/?p=250#comment-5717 Are the other health plans in the state as willing as HCHP to post their cost data? Will public access to this information reveal anything about the profitability of one health plan versus another or for that matter about one hospital group versus another? Shouldn't this information be accompanied by outcome data so that transparancy for both the cost and value of a service can be derived? And finally should the Council have the authority to compel production of this data for the good of the public? Are the other health plans in the state as willing as HCHP to post their cost data? Will public access to this information reveal anything about the profitability of one health plan versus another or for that matter about one hospital group versus another? Shouldn’t this information be accompanied by outcome data so that transparancy for both the cost and value of a service can be derived? And finally should the Council have the authority to compel production of this data for the good of the public?

]]> By: Jon Hurst http://www.letstalkhealthcare.org/transparency/health-care-quality-cost-council-web-site-delays/#comment-5708 Jon Hurst Mon, 11 Aug 2008 17:25:59 +0000 http://www.letstalkhealthcare.org/?p=250#comment-5708 The delays are frustrating Charlie. Similar delays have been seen with the Connnector. There are still no small group (non-taxpayer subsidized) plans being offered there, and reportedly there won't be until sometime next year (3 years into the law). So while more assessments, red tape and costs are being thrown at employers by state government, the hallmarks of the "reform" on the cost side have not been implemented. Transparency and affordable aggregated small group plans through the Connector were going to make the mandates affordable. Yet unfortunately cost continues to be the last political and public policy goal--well behind access & quality. Thus the payers--employers, consumers and taxpayers--continue to take a back seat to the receivers of our money. The delays are frustrating Charlie. Similar delays have been seen with the Connnector. There are still no small group (non-taxpayer subsidized) plans being offered there, and reportedly there won’t be until sometime next year (3 years into the law). So while more assessments, red tape and costs are being thrown at employers by state government, the hallmarks of the “reform” on the cost side have not been implemented. Transparency and affordable aggregated small group plans through the Connector were going to make the mandates affordable. Yet unfortunately cost continues to be the last political and public policy goal–well behind access & quality. Thus the payers–employers, consumers and taxpayers–continue to take a back seat to the receivers of our money.

]]> By: Charlie Baker http://www.letstalkhealthcare.org/transparency/health-care-quality-cost-council-web-site-delays/#comment-5693 Charlie Baker Fri, 08 Aug 2008 20:54:43 +0000 http://www.letstalkhealthcare.org/?p=250#comment-5693 Amy - You raise an interesting issue. Legislatures hesitate to give this kind of responsibility to specific administrations and prefer to give it to groups of interested parties. As a result, both the Health Care Quality and Cost Council and the Connector Authority have Boards that oversee their activities. This "groupthink" inevitably slows down their progress or waters down their focus. The flip side, of course, is more input and deliberation. Pick your preference. And I hope the end product is out soon. Sean - I hope it's not as gloomy as your comments suggest - although your worries about holding onto the so-called "younger generation" are right on, and I worry about that, too. Amy - You raise an interesting issue. Legislatures hesitate to give this kind of responsibility to specific administrations and prefer to give it to groups of interested parties. As a result, both the Health Care Quality and Cost Council and the Connector Authority have Boards that oversee their activities. This “groupthink” inevitably slows down their progress or waters down their focus. The flip side, of course, is more input and deliberation. Pick your preference. And I hope the end product is out soon.

Sean - I hope it’s not as gloomy as your comments suggest - although your worries about holding onto the so-called “younger generation” are right on, and I worry about that, too.

]]> By: Barry Carol http://www.letstalkhealthcare.org/transparency/health-care-quality-cost-council-web-site-delays/#comment-5691 Barry Carol Fri, 08 Aug 2008 14:19:12 +0000 http://www.letstalkhealthcare.org/?p=250#comment-5691 I don’t see why committee members can’t make this happen in a reasonable timeframe if they wanted to and thought it was important. As an outsider, I conclude that they believe (1) markets can’t be trusted anyway so we shouldn’t bother putting this price information into the public domain and (2) the public isn’t smart enough to use it intelligently and to act in their own best interests. PCP’s, for their part, are unlikely to incorporate the information into their referral decisions. Bottom line: why bother? It sounds like classic liberal (and wrong) thinking to me. Since Massachusetts healthcare and halth insurance is already dominated by non-profit hospitals and non-profit insurers there is no blame to assign to supposedly greedy for profit insurers and for profit hospitals. Yet, healthcare costs in MA are among the highest in the country. What a mess! I don’t see why committee members can’t make this happen in a reasonable timeframe if they wanted to and thought it was important. As an outsider, I conclude that they believe (1) markets can’t be trusted anyway so we shouldn’t bother putting this price information into the public domain and (2) the public isn’t smart enough to use it intelligently and to act in their own best interests. PCP’s, for their part, are unlikely to incorporate the information into their referral decisions. Bottom line: why bother? It sounds like classic liberal (and wrong) thinking to me. Since Massachusetts healthcare and halth insurance is already dominated by non-profit hospitals and non-profit insurers there is no blame to assign to supposedly greedy for profit insurers and for profit hospitals. Yet, healthcare costs in MA are among the highest in the country. What a mess!

]]> By: Amy Lischko http://www.letstalkhealthcare.org/transparency/health-care-quality-cost-council-web-site-delays/#comment-5689 Amy Lischko Thu, 07 Aug 2008 23:24:43 +0000 http://www.letstalkhealthcare.org/?p=250#comment-5689 I agree with most of your points Charlie. But I believe that putting this initiaitve into the hands of yet another council was the big mistake from my perspective. The state had already developed a website that contained quality information and could have improved upon that site quickly added the price data. You can be sure price information would have been up by now! Sure, it wasn't perfect and it may not have been as "spiffy" as the proposed new site but it was up and running and people were using the information. Unfortunately it has not been updated since 2006. The council in fact slowed down a process that was already in motion! Maybe the end product will be better and better received by those being reported on because of the process involved. I sure hope so because otherwise this delay was completly avoidable! I agree with most of your points Charlie. But I believe that putting this initiaitve into the hands of yet another council was the big mistake from my perspective. The state had already developed a website that contained quality information and could have improved upon that site quickly added the price data. You can be sure price information would have been up by now! Sure, it wasn’t perfect and it may not have been as “spiffy” as the proposed new site but it was up and running and people were using the information. Unfortunately it has not been updated since 2006. The council in fact slowed down a process that was already in motion! Maybe the end product will be better and better received by those being reported on because of the process involved. I sure hope so because otherwise this delay was completly avoidable!

]]> By: sean grady http://www.letstalkhealthcare.org/transparency/health-care-quality-cost-council-web-site-delays/#comment-5688 sean grady Thu, 07 Aug 2008 21:14:18 +0000 http://www.letstalkhealthcare.org/?p=250#comment-5688 So the one tiny piece of the healthcare reform law that was supposed to address the cost side of the equation is being bogged down. Why am I not surprised? The politicians are much more concerned about handing out free healthcare to anyone they can locate to make even more people dependent on government... creating a loyal constituency that gets money, housing and healthcare all from the government and all for free. This all folds in to your discussion on younger people leaving the region and the problems this trend will create. The cost of living tends to be high in a state when you tax the workers back to the Stone Age to cover all of these free government hand outs. Living in a one party state can be extremely frustrating. So the one tiny piece of the healthcare reform law that was supposed to address the cost side of the equation is being bogged down. Why am I not surprised? The politicians are much more concerned about handing out free healthcare to anyone they can locate to make even more people dependent on government… creating a loyal constituency that gets money, housing and healthcare all from the government and all for free. This all folds in to your discussion on younger people leaving the region and the problems this trend will create. The cost of living tends to be high in a state when you tax the workers back to the Stone Age to cover all of these free government hand outs. Living in a one party state can be extremely frustrating.

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