The California Department of Insurance has developed a new consumer website, California Healthcare Compare, for consumers to compare healthcare options based on price and quality, according to Santa Cruz Sentinel.
Here are seven notes:
1. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services provided the grant for the website.
2. The website gives consumers information on quality for childbirth, hip and knee replacement, colon cancer screening, diabetes and back pain.
3. In addition to quality measures, the site provides cost information by county for 100 procedures.
4. The site's creators compiled health quality and cost data from state and federal agencies such as the CMS's Hospital Compare website, California Maternal Quality Care Collaborative, Integrated Healthcare Association as well as insurance claims data.
5. The site details the average out-of-pocket costs for consumers and the average costs insurers pay, but many consumers may find it difficult to discern what their own costs would be.
6. To address these issues, the site links users to online out-of-pocket calculates that are maintained by insures such as Aetna and Anthem Blue Cross. However, some major payers do not have the out-of-pocket cost calculators and consumers may not be confused by the total cost of a procedures and their own out-of-pocket cost.
7. With continual funding, the website hopes to amend these issues and make the site more user-friendly.
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