Health care quality: The other part of the value equation

In 2021, Texas lawmakers took an important step toward empowering Texans to make informed decisions about their health care by requiring hospitals to publish prices in a public, accessible format. Since then, hospitals across Texas have made more pricing data available than ever before.

But price is only part of the equation when it comes to high-value health care. So is health care quality.

Economists at Yale, Vanderbilt, and MIT found that “receiving care from expensive hospitals in concentrated markets increases spending but has no detectable effect on mortality.” This is particularly relevant for Texas, where over 60% of the population lives in highly concentrated hospital markets.

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Under current law, health benefit plans are restricted from publishing information about how doctors stack up against performance standards. So even if you know what you’re paying, you could be in the dark about whether you’re getting your money’s worth.

State Rep. James Frank, R-Wichita Falls, and state Sen. Kelly Hancock, R-North Richland Hills, both introduced legislation to remove barriers to information about health care quality so that Texans can make informed choices about their health care and insurers and health plan providers can reward smart shoppers.

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