A legislator won't give up his quest to get health-care consumers more information about the costs they face for procedures, and he's getting a little help.
Rep. Eric Hutchings, R-Kearns, told the Business and Labor Interim Committee on Wednesday that the Utah Hospital Association is considering implementing an informational resource similar to one undertaken by the Kentucky Hospital Association that lists tons of data about procedures and their costs, allowing consumers to compare figures with statewide averages and among individual health-care facilities.
During the Legislature's general session, Hutchings introduced two bills regarding consumer access to health-care-related costs, although neither got far. One required health-care providers to use common terms and not just reference numbers when referring to services on consumers' bills. The other would have required providers to supply consumers with a list of charges for their professional services. The latter prompted the look into the Kentucky model.
"If you were a consumer looking for a general practitioner, somebody to help you take care of your diabetes or whatever it would be, this is an absolutely wonderful methodology to be able to go through," Hutchings said. "It literally compares every facility in the state of Kentucky."
Hutchings said "it seems like the wheels are already in motion on that, and based on the models that are out there from some of these other states, I am very encouraged about the potential to have really good, quality, accurate information."
By the next legislative session, the state could be positioned "very nicely to not only be an example to the nation but be able to back that up with actual statistical data, and use that power to benefit our own uninsured and underinsured people in the state of Utah," he said.
A couple of lawmakers wondered about the integrity of the Kentucky data and if it is verified by third parties.
"It's only as good as the numbers. . . . If we can get something that is credible, I think it's a great resource," said the committee's co-chairman, Rep. Stephen Clark, R-Provo.
The Kentucky association's Web site collects billing data from all of that state's acute-care hospitals for all patients who were admitted for inpatient care. Its report covers inpatient discharges at Kentucky's acute-care hospitals for the most recent 12-month period where quarterly data from hospitals has been completed.
"That's kind of the nice thing about where we're moving here," Hutchings said. "The average consumer is going to have more information, better information, than they've ever had — ever — in the history of medicine. It's going to be a great time for the average consumer."
E-mail: bwallace@desnews.com