Ignagni: Pilot Program of the AQA Alliance is 'Making Transparency Real'
WASHINGTON, June 1 /PRNewswire/ -- America's Health Insurance Plans
(AHIP) President & CEO Karen Ignagni issued the following statement on
today's release of Medicare payment rates for 30 different services by
county, and the number of these procedures performed, at individual
hospitals:
(Logo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20040830/AHIPLOGO )
Consumers need more information about the quality and cost of care they
receive. Employers need data to inform their purchasing decisions, and
practitioners need benchmarks to initiate improvements in practice.
Taking the initial steps in any important endeavor requires leadership
and commitment such as that demonstrated by the Centers for Medicare &
Medicaid Services (CMS).
Today, CMS announced that the agency is posting -- at
http://www.cms.hhs.gov -- county-by-county information on hospital payment
for 30 diagnoses, and the number of each procedure performed at individual
institutions.
In addition, CMS is engaged in an important pilot program of the AQA
alliance that amounts to a giant step in making the goal of transparency
real. With CMS support, the AQA pilot is, for the first time, combining
public sector and private sector data to measure physician practice, and to
report data to consumers, purchasers, and practicing physicians themselves.
The pilot launched in early May, and the six pilot sites expect to report
data publicly in 2007.
America's Health Insurance Plans -- Providing Health Benefits to
More Than 200 Million Americans
SOURCE America's Health Insurance Plans
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