In 2020, the third in a series of National Hospital Price Transparency Studies conducted by the RAND Corporation offered an unprecedented look into hospital prices relative to Medicare in 49 states and the District of Columbia. The data proved what many of us already suspected: the prices we pay for health care vary tremendously and are uncorrelated to the value we receive. Now that the data are publicly available – with a future study planned for 2021 – we want to ensure that employers and other health care purchasers deploy it to their advantage.
The Employer Hospital Price Transparency Project was developed by the Employers’ Forum of Indiana with support from Catalyst for Payment Reform and the National Institute for Healthcare Reform. Knowing hospital prices is a great beginning – but it’s a first step. The Employer Price Transparency Project (PTP) Website helps employers and other health care purchasers use hospital pricing data to pursue higher-value healthcare. This entails:
- Understanding how hospital prices are negotiated and why prices differ drastically among hospitals and across markets
- Accessing relevant hospital pricing data and supplementing it with quality data to create a comprehensive picture of health care value
- Choosing from a menu of tactics and strategies to do any/all of the following:
- Guide plan members to the highest value care, through benefit or network design
- Contract directly with selected providers to create customized product design
- Partner with other purchasers or stakeholders to amplify purchasing power and advocate policy changes that can enhance transparency and re-balance the market
Within this website, purchasers can access research, case studies and customizable tools collated from nationally renowned thought-leaders and innovative purchasers across the country, to help translate hospital price transparency into meaningful solutions.
About The Employers’ Forum of Indiana
The Employers’ Forum of Indiana is a 501(c)(3) employer-led health care coalition of employers, physicians, hospitals, health plans, public health officials and other interested parties. Our goal is to improve the value payers and patients receive for their health care expenditures. The Forum is led by Gloria Sachdev.
About Catalyst for Payment Reform
Catalyst for Payment Reform (CPR) is an independent, nonprofit corporation on a mission to help employers and other health care purchasers get better value for their health care dollar. CPR seeks to empower health care purchasers who want to proactively improve the way the health care market functions.
