Mass. website discloses hospital price and quality data

By Liz Kowalczyk, Globe Staff

Massachusetts residents can now search a new website to compare the cost and quality of care at different hospitals, part of an ambitious state plan to help control health care costs by giving consumers more information.

The new My HealthCare Options site gives consumers access to previously confidential information about how much insurers pay individual hospitals for surgical procedures such as knee and hip replacements, and for treating illnesses such as pneumonia. It also allows comparisons of patient satisfaction ratings and patient safety measures at different hospitals.

The website was required as part of the state's mandatory health insurance law. More than 442,000 people have enrolled in health insurance programs since 2006, and Massachusetts now has the smallest percentage of uninsured adults in the country, but the cost of the subsidized insurance is rising fast.

“Transparency is vitally important in both controlling costs and improving quality in the health care industry,” Secretary of Health and Human Services Dr. JudyAnn Bigby said today in a written statement. “While it remains to be seen how improved access to price and quality information will impact decision-making, our hope is that the website will empower consumers to spend health care dollars more efficiently and motivate providers to improve quality and decrease their costs."