Hospital Compare Program Reduces Cardiac Care Prices Without Penalizing High Performers

Public reporting of hospital quality data through the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ Hospital Compare program resulted in reduced consumer prices overall for cardiac care while still allowing high-performing hospitals to maintain prices that were 8 to 14 percent higher, according to an AHRQ-funded study. The authors analyzed cardiac patient and price data for 100 medium-size and large employers from the IBM Watson Health MarketScan® Commercial Claims and Encounters database, as well as Hospital Compare ratings. The authors concluded that Hospital Compare was effective at restraining prices without penalizing high-performing hospitals. Access the abstract of the study, published in the Journal of Economics & Management Strategy.