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10 24 24 Lieutenant Governor Dianne Primavera on the Colorado Hospital Price Finder
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How you can shop and compare health care costs will Colorado is now on the cutting edge of providing great information to add more transparency in health care. This tool it complements the state-generated price transparency initiative that the governor and the Department of Health Care Policy and Finance announced earlier in the year. It empowers Coloradans with the information they need about the cost of care and how it works and more as Lieutenant Governor Diane Primavera joins us now on Colorado's Morning News. Lieutenant Governor, glad to have you on with us this morning. Exactly how does this work and how should consumers use this portal? What's a user-friendly website? There's actually two portals, as you mentioned. They can go to coloradohospitalprices.com, which is the not-for-profit tool that was developed, or they can go to HCPF, standing for Health Care Policy and Financing, so HCPF.colorado.gov/hospital-reports-hub. And they're both really pretty user-friendly, so I'd encourage people to try them out. Can you say user-friendly walk us through what Coloradans need to know in order to make sure that the website is most helpful for them in comparing prices? Okay, so once you sign on to the website, then it brings up the tool. For example, if you want to go to an emergency room for something or you want to check into a procedure like a vaginal delivery or something like that, you put in the procedure that you're looking for, and it'll bring up the hospitals that offer this procedure, then you want to look at one of your hospitals. So you put that in, and it tells you what that hospital will charge you for that particular procedure. Also, if you have a code that you've gotten on a bill or something like that, you can also enter the code and find out charges for same procedure in different hospitals. I wanted to ask that question, Lieutenant Governor, are the codes the same between every hospital? I believe they are, yes. Okay, and having said that, when you look at the prices and you're shopping for the hospital, do the prices take into account one's insurance coverage? Yeah, the insurance coverage is part of it, because different carriers pay different costs for the same procedure. So, yeah, it doesn't take into consideration the insurance as well. We mentioned earlier that this is something new to our state and something new for a lot of states when it comes to this, but it feels like it shouldn't be as under the table of prices when it comes to your hospital visits and your overall costs. I mean, first off, is it a requirement for all hospitals to show their costs for services? And why did it take now for us to launch a website in order to really compare and contrast what the prices are? Well, as of January 2021, the Centers for Medicaid and Medicare Services required each hospital operating in the U.S. to provide pricing information online about items and services that they provide in a couple of different ways. We found that it was more difficult to navigate this, so one of the things we wanted to do is make it easier for people to navigate, and that's what these two tools do. Lieutenant Governor, can I literally take this price, if I'm price shopping, and if I maybe belong to St. Joe's, can I take it to St. Luke's, or you see health and say you can match this price for the same procedure? Well, you know, we feel like it's a good way to help employers and negotiate the prices themselves. I mean, it's always good to shine a light, transparency is always a good thing, but the tool itself will really help employers more, I think, lower health care costs. You know, if you get a bill and your bill is different, you know, you're supposed to pay $750 for a procedure and you get a bill through $1,000, you can take that to the hospital and they can't charge you the extra amount of money for the procedure. They have to charge what was in the database, so those are the ways that consumers can use it. Are all Colorado hospitals compulsed to be on this, and if they weren't, the ones that are due, they do so willingly, or do they have to be dragged at this point? Well, actually, Colorado hospitals and our health care systems have shown a strong level of engagement and a desire to be in compliance with the federal and state transparency rules. I think our health care policy and financing tool features data from 82 of our 84 hospitals so far, and they're getting better with what and how they're reporting. I think overall, 84.2% of all Colorado hospitals have an overall price-transparency quality rating of good or fair, that's an increase from 73.4% in November 2022, so that means that hospitals have shoppable consumer-facing tools, machine-readable files, and the data that they reported in the last year, so they've actually, although I can't speak on behalf of the hospitals, we feel like they've done a good job coming together to help us lower health care costs for consumers. Final question. I know this may be quite a stretch, but have you projected out or have any idea how much money potentially this can save consumers when it comes to their health care with this transparency? Well, we don't have those numbers yet. The tool was just previewed this week, so we'll get back to you after a while and let you know how well this is working. Again, the website, call theradohospitalpricefinder.com, call therado lieutenant governor, it's Diane Primavera. Thank you so much for your time this morning. We appreciate it. Thank you. Bye. Well, there's only one feeling like knowing your banker personally, like growing up with a bank you can count on, like being sure what you've earned is safe, secure, and local. There's only one feeling like knowing you're supporting your community. You deserve more from a bank. You deserve an institution that stood strong for generations. Bank of Colorado, there's only one. Remember FDIC. At Sprouts Farmers Market, we're all about fresh, healthy, and delicious. That's why you'll find the season's best local and organic produce, handpicked, and waiting for you in the center of our store. Visit your neighborhood Sprouts Farmers Market today, where fresh produce is always in season. At Sprouts Farmers Market, we're all about fresh, healthy, and delicious. Step into our bulk department to discover a world of options with hundreds of scoopable bulk bins and grab-and-go favorites. From wholesome grains and spices to limited-time goodies like pumpkin apple cashews and butter toffee peanuts. Plus buying in bulk means you can get as much or as little as you like for your next recipe or snack attack. Visit your neighborhood Sprouts Farmers Market today, where flavor fills every scoop. [MUSIC PLAYING]