Consumer Healthcare Is Getting Clearer All the Time

We're getting closer to the end of the yellow brick road.

The opaque veil over the US healthcare system is being drawn aside, and, like the Wizard of Oz at the end of the yellow brick road, reality appears.

Take cost transparency, for example. I serve on the Colorado All Payor Claims Data Advisory Commission (http://www.civhc.org) The idea is to create a data set of all health claims and make them public in an effort to provide pricing transparency to markets. 13 states have them, and several more, like Colorado, are in the process of forming them. http://www.commonwealthfund.org/~/media/Files/Publications/Issue%20Brief/2010/Sep/1439_Love_allpayer_claims_databases_ib_v2.pdf

Then check http://www.wipricepoint.org/ for a place to compare costs at Wisconsin provider locations. Want to  know how much you'll be charged for an ER visit in one place compared to another ?. No problem. Do you want it as a iPad application? No big deal.

OK. Now we have price information. What about quality comparisons? The US government is here and they are your friend. For quality comparisons, check www.healthcare.gov . Are you starting to see the pattern?

Finally, let's take healthcare information exchanges, combine quality data with cost data and , voila, we have a value equation. The final piece de resistance is to add international healthcare cost comparisons, like we do at www.medvoy.com , and there you have a picture that is becoming clearer and clearer with each and every day.

The new reality is that every bill you send and every thing you do will be sliced, diced, compared and parsed. Get used to it. It is never easy when you discover the Wizard of Oz is some dumpy short guy with glasses.