Hospital Consumer Assist Web Site Announced
The Arkansas Hospital Association launched its hospital pricing and quality Web site, known as Hospital Consumer Assist on December 21. The new transparency Web site,
( www.hospitalconsumerassist.com ), reflects the commitment by Arkansas' hospitals to openness in the reporting of both prices and quality indicators. It site was created to provide basic demographic, quality and pricing information on Arkansas hospitals and to serve as a factual starting point for discussions among consumers, providers and insurers. Hospital Consumer Assist provides Arkansas healthcare consumers with an additional tool for use in making healthcare decisions.

Reports contained on the Web site reflect the average prices that individual hospitals charge Medicare for 25 different kinds of inpatient hospital stays, which capture about 75% of all such cases that Medicare covers. The prices are based on claims data from the Federal government's Medicare Provider Analysis and Review (MedPAR) data tapes.

While the information relates to Medicare patients, it can be used as a guideline to indicate how much other patients might expect their charges to be for similar care. The reports also show how the hospitals compare nationally and statewide on each of 20 quality measures developed by the Hospital Quality Alliance and posted on the Center for Medicare & Medicaid Services' Hospital Compare Web site. The site will be updated as new data resources become publicly available.