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House Co-Sponsorship Memoranda
House of Representatives
Session of 2015 - 2016
Regular Session
MEMORANDUM
| Posted: | February 12, 2015 05:17 PM |
|---|---|
| From: | Representative Mike Reese |
| To: | All House members |
| Subject: | Health Care Cost Transparency |
| In the near future, I will be introducing legislation that will amend Act 89 of Jul. 8, 1986, (P.L. 408, No. 89), known as The Health Care Cost Containment Act, by expanding the information collected and made available by the Pennsylvania Health Care Cost Containment Council (PHC4). This proposal directs the PHC4 to collect a standard schedule of charges for services from health care facilities in Pennsylvania, commonly referred to as a “chargemaster.” Chargemasters will then be made available to the public through existing methods already utilized by the PHC4. Chargemasters have long been used by medical care providers but have never been made readily available to the public in such a transparent manner. Because of recent changes in the health care system, many of our constituents have been researching and price shopping when considering where to obtain services. By making this information available, consumers will have a worthwhile resource to do this kind of research. The PHC4 was formed in 1986 with the passage of Act 89. The Council’s strategy, according to its website, is to stimulate competition by providing comparative information. Because the Commonwealth already has an agency with this mission, it is my belief that this is an obvious fit. Thank you in advance for your consideration of this proposal. |
Introduced as HB978