08/01/2008

OAASC to Explore Data Reporting Alternatives

While the legislature takes its summer break, representatives of the OAASC's Government Affairs and Quality and Clinical Outcomes Committees remain hard at work on an issue for next year. 

The two committees are looking at what data ASCs should be reporting to allow health care consumers best judge the quality, efficiency and effectiveness of Ohio's ASCs. 

Ohio hospitals currently are required to report certain billed charge data to the Ohio Department of Health, and pending legislation (HB 456) would require similar reporting for ASCs. 

The OAASC is taking the initiative to develop meaningful reporting data that will actually benefit consumers health care decisions, rather than arbitrary billing data that does not take into account insurance discounts and other factors to give a true snapshot of a procedure's "cost."