The governor of Louisiana has approved a bill (SB 287, the Louisiana Consumer’s Right to Know Act) which charges the Department of Health and Hospitals with creating a website that will give Louisiana health care consumers access to reliable information on the cost, quality and performance of their health care providers and health plans – a first for the state.
Under the Louisiana Consumers’ Right to Know Act, DHH will create a website that publishes key performance data on health care providers and health plans, such as complication rates for procedures, average cost for procedures and the number of procedures a given provider has performed. This information will allow consumers to compare providers across a range of performance categories and make their health care buying decisions armed with objective information.
SB 287 also calls on DHH to form a Health Data Panel consisting of health care stakeholders and technology experts from throughout the state that will advise the agency on best practices around the collection of provider data, risk adjusting the data for accuracy and clear and easy to understand publication of the data on a user-friendly website. The website will be launched before April 30, 2009.
Read more: Louisiania Bill To Create A Health Care Comparison Web Site
