The Pacific Business Group on Health, CalPERS and the California Health Care Coalition are working on an initiative to boost the transparency of hospital prices.
The Hospital Value Initiative aims to aggregate, analyze and distribute comparative data on reimbursements and resources hospitals use to provide inpatient and outpatient care.Â
In April, the Department of Justice gave the Hospital Value Initiative the green light to move forward, ruling that the project would not inhibit hospital competition. However, the California Hospital Association argues the initiative focuses too much on price and not enough on quality.
In a California Healthline Special Report by Pat McConahay, representatives from employer groups and the state hospital association discussed the effort. Â
The Special Report includes comments from:
- Jan Emerson, spokesperson for the California Hospital Association;
- John Glynn, consultant for the California Health Care Coalition; and
- David Hopkins, director of quality measurement at Pacific Business Group on Health (McConahay, California Healthline, 5/11).