05/17/2014    

HEALTHCARE NEWS

Health Insurance Giants to Make Payment Data Accessible to Public

 

A new initiative by three of the country's largest health plans has the potential to transform the accessibility of claims payment data, according to healthcare finance experts. UnitedHealthcare, Aetna, and Humana announced a partnership on Wednesday with the Health Care Cost Institute to create a payment database that will be available to the public for free. 

 

Experts say cost transparency is being spurred by a number of developments in the healthcare sector. The trend towards high-deductible plans is giving consumers a greater incentive to understand how much healthcare costs and to utilize it more efficiently. In addition, the launch of the exchanges under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act has brought unprecedented attention to the difficulties faced by individuals in shopping for insurance coverage. 

 

Source: Paul Demko, Modern Healthcare [5/14/14]