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"Consumers have a right to
know how much medical procedures cost and how much experience
medical facilities have in performing the procedures," the governor
said. "With this new law, the people of Illinois will be able to
make better-informed decisions about their health care."
House Bill 2343 requires the Illinois Department of Public
Health to post on its website the average charges for 30 outpatient
procedures performed at ambulatory surgical treatment centers, also
known as outpatient surgery centers, and at hospital outpatient
facilities, along with the number of times the facility has
performed those procedures in a year. There are 126 ambulatory
surgical treatment centers licensed in Illinois.
The new law builds on an existing law requiring the Department of
Public Health to publish inpatient hospital price and performance
information on its website. The process is still under development.
The legislation signed June 14 builds on these existing data
collection and reporting requirements to include outpatient
procedures.
The majority of surgeries are performed on an outpatient basis.
In 2003, there were 294,355 surgeries performed at ambulatory
surgical treatment centers. Hospitals performed 393,138 inpatient
surgeries and 655,003 outpatient surgeries.
"It is important that information be obtained on all surgeries to
get a more accurate picture of this component of health care," said
Dr. Eric E. Whitaker, state public health director. "When making
this information public, it's also important that we protect the
rights of patients. This bill ensures privacy laws are enforced to
prevent disclosure of any personal information that would identify
an individual patient."
In a survey conducted earlier this year by Fako & Associates of
Lemont, a national public opinion research firm, 85 percent of
Illinois registered voters questioned said comparison information on
outpatient surgery centers would affect their decision on a
facility, and 75 percent said they felt that disclosure of price and
quality information would create competition, lower prices and
improve quality.
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 House Bill 2343 was sponsored by Rep. Julie Hamos, D-Evanston,
and Sen. Susan Garrett, D-Highwood.
"I applaud the governor for signing this important legislation,"
Garrett said. "Citizens will be able to compare outpatient health
care facilities in the state and make informed choices. I am proud
that Illinois will be one of nine states that will be providing
performance and fee data to consumers on hospitals and medical
centers."
"The Illinois Health Care Right-to-Know legislation ensures all
Illinoisans have access to information that will help them make
sound decisions about their health care," Hamos said. "Consumers
have a right to know how health care facilities compare in terms of
cost and quality. I applaud Governor Blagojevich for signing this
legislation."
Consumer, labor and business groups throughout the state
supported the legislation.
"Consumers comparison shop for most major purchases, such as a
car or computer -- even travel," said Nina Harris, president and
chief executive officer of the Springfield Urban League, which
supported the bill. "Why should people have to choose health care
without having the ability to make comparisons? With this new law,
they won't have to."
The new law takes effect immediately. After regulations are
developed to implement the new law and data from hospitals and
ambulatory surgical treatment centers are collected, the consumer
information will be posted on the Illinois Department of Public
Health website and made available to the public at no charge,
starting in 2006.
[News release from the governor's
office] |
