Medicare Data For Doctors To Be Made Public
The government announced that Medicare will finally allow its extensive claims database to be accessed by employers, insurance companies and consumer groups, The Associated Press reported.
According to the news outlet, this will allow these groups to produce report cards and supply the public with information on local doctors and hospitals. A more transparent system could ease the process of deciding which specialist to use for an important medical procedure.
“There is tremendous variation in how well doctors do, and most of us as patients don’t know that. We make our choices blind,” David Lansky, president of the Pacific Business Group on Health, told the AP. “This is the beginning of a process to give us the information to make informed decisions.”
The news outlet reported that the Medicare administration also supported this move, calling the new policy “a giant step forward in making our healthcare system more transparent and promoting increased competition, accountability, quality and lower costs.”
This new policy was announced as The New York Times reported that the official in charge of Medicare and Medicaid for the last 17 months said that 20 percent to 30 percent of health spending is “waste.”
