New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo announced the creation of a nationwide database to help set health care reimbursement rates, benefiting patients who use doctors outside their insurers’ networks and capping an industrywide probe (Reuters).
A new nonprofit, Fair Health Inc, will develop a database for consumer reimbursement, as well as a website where consumers will be able to compare prices before they choose doctors.
Cuomo has obtained nearly $100 million from insurers such as Aetna Inc, UnitedHealth Group Inc and WellPoint Inc to fund Fair Health. Fair Health will be fully implemented within one year, and developed by five upstate New York universities.