Frequency: Quarterly
Measure Type: Utilization, Cost
Health care quality information on hospitals in Wisconsin, Iowa, Oregon, Utah, New Mexico, Virginia, New Hampshire, Texas, and Nevada are collected from the PricePoint System. Wisconsin first started this database in 2003, and now has partnered with the other states. The system informs consumers of hospital charges, utilization, and insurance information.
Once a hospital is selected (inpatient/outpatient services), several visual charts are provided to interpret the data. A three-dimensional graph is illustrated to display differences with insurance payers. There are also colored pie charts comparing government programs (i.e. Medicare) to private insurances. For the Wisconsin website, the first table you are able to select up to three hospitals to compare against the hospital you have chosen. Inpatient and outpatient information are available to the public, offering a low to high range of cost for a procedure. All reports are updated quarterly. Some of the states only offer inpatient services, such as Iowa.