Medicare Posts Hospital Payment Information Important Step toward Transparency in Health Care Costs and Quality To help consumers, providers, and payers make more informed health care decisions, the Department of Health and Human Services, through its Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), has posted information on what Medicare pays for 30 common elective procedures and other hospital admissions. President Bush directed the data be made publicly available to all Americans as part of the Administration’s commitment to make health care more affordable and accessible. The new information, posted by CMS at http://www.cms.hhs.gov/HealthCare ConInit/01_ Overview.asp# TopOfPage, Please click the following link to read more from the HHS Press Release: http://www.hhs.gov/news/press/2006pres/20060601a.html Click on the CMS Fact Sheet at http://www.cms.hhs.gov/apps/media/press/release.asp?Counter=1872 . Also, you can read more helpful information on the CMS Web page for Health Care Consumer Initiatives located at http://www.cms.hhs.gov/HealthCareConInit/01_Overview.asp# TopOfPage CMS Learn Resource 200606-03 |
shows the range of payments by county and the number of cases treated at each hospital for a variety of treatments provided to seniors and people with disabilities in fiscal year 2005. These include 30 common elective procedures, including heart operations and implanting cardiac defibrillators, hip and knee replacements, kidney and urinary tract operations, gallbladder operations, and back and neck opera-tions, and common non-surgical admissions.
