» US Healthcare Consumer Initiatives
US Healthcare Consumer Initiatives
Site: http://www.cms.hhs.gov/HealthCareConInit/
Released in 2006
Analysis based on MEDICARE CLAIMS (PAID) data
The Healthcare Consumer Initiatives website is a product of the US Dept, Health and Human Services effort to make healthcare cost and quality information available to all Americans. The website includes claims (paid) data for 30 common procedures paid for by Medicare. Information about the procedures includes the average paid, and the range paid for the procedure as well as the average length of stay and number of procedures performed at a particular facility. In addition, the average paid by Medicare nationwide is also presented for each procedure.
Value for employers
The Consumer Initiatives shows average price paid for many procedures. While the data is drawn from the Medicare, predominantly retired, population, it is a valuable resource for understanding healthcare cost variability in terms of the availability of national benchmark data for the 30 procedures.
Downloaded subsets of NH Data:
(Source: US Consumer Initiatives project, accessed on 11-1-06)
- Top 30 Elective Inpatient Hospital DRGs, NH Only [.xls]
- Other Inpatient Hospital DRGs of High Utilization, NH only [.xls]
Sample of NH data (from downloaded Excel file):
