Insurer gives members access to hospital treatment outcomes

Health Management Technology, April, 2004

A Northeast Blues plan has introduced a Web-based tool that will allow members to compare hospital treatment outcomes. Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts (BCBSMA) has employed HealthShare Technology's Select Quality Care Consumer to allow members to research treatment outcomes for 165 specific diagnoses or procedures. The tool, available to BCBSMA members later this year, provides detailed, side-by-side comparisons based on each member's specific needs and preferences. BCBSMA worked closely with its physicians and hospitals to select the consumer tool.

Select Quality Care is supported by publicly available outcomes data that hospitals report to state and federal government agencies. The data include comparisons of hospital performance factors such as mortality, length of stay, complications and how frequently a hospital performs a specific procedure. Data are adjusted for severity of illness so that hospitals treating the sickest patients are not penalized in the reports.