Dive Brief:
- Progress toward healthcare price transparency has slowed around the U.S., with many states even regressing in terms of providing information to consumers about healthcare costs, according to the third annual report from the Catalyst for Payment Reform and the Health Care Incentives Improvement Institute.
- The number of states to recieve a failing grade has risen from 29 states two years ago to 45 states now.
- Despite the poor grades, the report finds that momentum toward transparency is still building, particularly due to consumer demand as more health plan enrollees face higher co-pays and deductibles.
Dive Insight:
While the grades are illuminating, they may reflect information that is behind the times becase they consider legislation enacted in the previous year, but not legislation currently in progress.
As noted by Modern Healthcare, two of the most interesting changes last year occurred in Massachusetts and New Hampshire. Massachusetts went from a grade of B to F due to legislation that shifts the onus for price transparency away from the government and on to health plans, resulting in the shutdown of the state's MyHealthCareOptions website.
Conversely, New Hampshire went from an F on its previous report card to this year's only A for launching the NH HealthCost price transparency website.
The other states to get passing grades were Colorado, Maine, Vermont and Virginia.