This will drive Drew Altman of the Kaiser Foundation nuts since he belives consumers are too stupid to decide what’s best for them when it comes to health care (has he been paying attention to the Medicare drug benefit?) it should be pointed out that in another step in helping consumers, providers, and payers make more informed healthcare decisions, CMS will be posting information on what Medicare pays for 30 elective inpatient hospital procedures and other common hospital admissions later today. The new information will be posted by CMS at www.cms.hhs.gov. The information takes a snapshot look down to the county level at the amounts paid by Medicare paid for a variety of treatments provided to seniors and people with disabilities in fiscal year 2005. These include procedures such as heart operations and implanting cardiac defibrillators, hip and knee replacements, kidney and urinary tract operations, gallbladder operations and back and neck operations, and common non-surgical admissions.
The information is scheduled to be posted around 2 pm today. A press release will announce the posting of this information.
