Improving Health Care Transparency: Federal and State Perspectives

On Wednesday, November 20, Georgetown University’s Center on Health Insurance Reforms (CHIR) hosted a presentation and panel discussion exploring how increased transparency in health care can be leveraged by consumers, employers, researchers, and states in support of cost-containment efforts. The event was part of an ongoing series focused on policy approaches to increase affordability of private health insurance coverage and health care services. 

Corey Ensslin of the House Energy and Commerce Committee provided context on the House-passed Lower Costs, More Transparency Act, and Stacey Pogue with CHIR provided an overview of transparency-focused policy approaches. The panel engaged in a lively discussion on the benefits of and limits to transparency. Panelists included Dr. Ge Bai of Johns Hopkins University, Gloria Sachdev, CEO of  Employers’ Forum of Indiana, Hemi Tewarson, Executive Director of the National Academy for State Health Policy, and Anthony Wright, Executive Director of Families USA. The panel was moderated by Reed Ableson of the New York Times.

Speakers explored several approaches to increase transparency with the goal of bending the cost curve, including by targeting opaque prices, ownership, sites of service, and more. Improving access to health care price data is a priority on the federal level as reflected in the House-passed Lower Costs, More Transparency Act, and states have led the efforts to make ownership of health systems more transparent. Speakers explained both why consumers and employers need additional transparency from health care industries, and how policymakers, regulators, and researchers can leverage transform to inform larger reform goals.

A recording of the event is available on CHIR’s YouTube channel.