GAO Gives Medicare Websites Poor Marks
By Christine Kern, contributing writer
HHS is failing in its goal of making healthcare costs more transparent.
The results of a new federal report by the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) have revealed The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is failing to meet its goal of making healthcare costs more transparent. The report demonstrates that discrepancies of thousands of dollars between providers the same service within the same geographical location, regardless of the quality of services, according to an abstract.
Further, GAO found, the five transparency tools operated by CMS to help consumers evaluate cost and quality information apparently have “critical weaknesses” that make it nearly impossible to calculate out-of-pocket costs, let alone compare quality. These tools include Nursing Home Compare, Dialysis Facility Compare, Home Health Compare, Hospital Compare, and Physician Compare.
GAO determined these transparency tools lacked relevant information on cost, and further provided limited information regarding differences in quality of care, preventing consumers from making informed decisions about providers. Further, none of the tools provide information regarding out-of-pocket costs, which means that there is no way for consumers to combine cost and quality information to make appropriate healthcare decisions.
The abstract states, “GAO found substantial limitations in how the CMS tools present information, such as, in general, not using clear language and symbols, not summarizing and organizing information to highlight patterns, and not enabling consumers to customize how information is presented.”
Although CMS has instituted some measures to expand access to cost and quality information, CMS officials have not resisted changes to the websites, partly because of pressure from providers, the GAO reported.
“CMS’s process for developing and selecting cost and quality measures for its tools has been heavily influenced by the concerns of providers rather than consumers,” according to the report.
“The GAO report reveals that there is a need to empower patients with better information on health care price and quality,” Sen. Pat Toomey (R-PA) wrote in a statement to The Associated Press. “Armed with the facts, it will be possible for consumers to obtain high quality care and drive down costs.”
CMS will likely continue to have “limited effectiveness in conveying relevant and understandable information on cost and quality to consumers,” according to the GAO report, mainly as the result of a lack of clear policies or performance measures. The report also said rising healthcare costs have precipitated a growing need for transparency information. It cited a growing need for the information due to rising health care costs.
“People deserve to know information on the cost and quality of the health care services they need,” said Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), one of the lawmakers who requested the report, according to Fox News. “The new GAO study makes important recommendations on how to better empower consumers, and I look forward to working with this bipartisan group of senators to establish more transparency.”