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January 10,
2007
MRHC to
participate in Iowa Hospital PricePoint, a website provided
by the Iowa Hospital Association as an online tool for
health care consumers.
For
Immediate Release
Contact: Scott McIntyre, 515/288-1955
mcintyres@ihaonline.org
January 10, 2007
Iowa Hospitals Voluntarily
Post Pricing Information
Iowa Hospital Association Provides Online Tool for Health
Care Consumers
DES MOINES –
A new Web site unveiled by the Iowa Hospital Association (IHA)
provides free access to an unprecedented level of detail
about charges and services at Iowa hospitals.
The Web site,
known as “Iowa Hospital PricePoint,” allows users to easily
access charge information about any type of inpatient
hospitalization at any Iowa hospital. The best way to
access the Web site is through the Iowa Hospital Association
Web site (www.ihaonline.org)
and click on the “Iowa Hospital PricePoint” banner.
“Iowa
hospitals are committed to playing a leading role in
promoting health care pricing transparency,” said Kirk
Norris, IHA president and CEO. “PricePoint is an important
and easy-to-use tool that can help consumers, employers and
insurers with health care decisions.”
PricePoint is
unique among similar Web sites across the country in that it
provides aggregate “discount” information for each hospital
for the three major kinds of health care coverage – private
insurance, Medicare and Medicaid. This information allows
users to understand how hospitals’ charges compare to the
amount of revenue they actually collect for services
provided to the three patient categories.
The
PricePoint Web site displays the four most recently reported
quarters of data from all Iowa hospitals, and will include
information about all inpatient hospitalizations.
PricePoint allows users to compare hospital inpatient charge
data for up to four hospitals at the same time. In
addition, users can compare inpatient charges according the
severity of illness within a particular service area.
The
severity-of-illness feature is important, because while
hospitals may treat a similar number of patients who have a
particular condition, those same patients may be very
different in terms of the severity of that condition.
Generally, patients with a higher severity of illness will
stay in the hospital longer and incur higher charges.
In most
cases, out-of-pocket hospital costs for privately insured
patients are determined by their health insurance policies.
However, a growing number of Iowa residents are being
covered by what are known as “consumer-directed health
plans,” under which the billed charge may factor into the
amount a patient would ultimately pay for a specific
procedure. Patients should contact hospitals directly for
the most accurate estimate of actual costs for a given
procedure.
The Iowa
Hospital Association is a voluntary membership organization
representing hospital and health system interests to
business, government and consumer audiences. All of Iowa’s
117 community hospitals are IHA members.
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