NY State to Publish More Hospital Charge Data

In March 2013, author Steven Brill published an article called “Bitter Pill” in Time magazine.  Based on CMS data covering approximately 100 conditions, the article asked, for instance, why a colonoscopy costs $300 in one clinic and $3,000 in another.

Now New York State is taking that effort at transparency a step further. In two weeks, it plans to publish on its web site hospital charge data for 1,400 conditions in the State of New York. “This is going to matter,” stresses Nirav Shah, M.D., M.P.H., New York State Commissioner of Health. “In a high-deductible health plan world, having access to hospital charges matters. Because a $4,000 C-section at Montefiore Medical Center vs. a $12,000 one at Mt. Sinai — and these are real numbers — for the same quality outcomes, make a big difference in your choices, and the type of care you are going to request."

...He noted that the open data initiative has already proven valuable to state employees as well. His department traditionally received 5,000 to 7,000 Freedom of Information Act requests per year, which are time-consuming to respond to. “We took the ones that were most requested, and made the data publicly available, and it eliminated 700 requests right away. We were able to reduce FTEs and be more responsive.”