A report by the Florida Hospital Association says that a state-wide quality initiative helped the state’s hospitals improve care and cut costs. Hospitals participating in the Partnership for Patients Hospital Engagement Network reported an average 54 percent decrease in patient harm as hospital readmissions fell 9.2 percent .
“In order to better understand the hardship placed on Floridians when they are presented with inflated hospital bills, we are asking those who believe they are a victim of hospital price gouging to share their stories with our Commission on Healthcare and Hospital Funding. We want to hear directly from Floridians who have suffered from this unfair practice so we can better empower patients to fight against price gouging at Florida hospitals.”
Bruce Rueben, president of the Florida Hospital Association, “called for a wider approach to transparency by creating what he called an All Payer Claims database.”
“The best way to truly empower patients, and to understand what drives costs, is to bring everyone in the health care continuum to the table. By utilizing data from all health care claims, a comprehensive database would provide meaningful information about health care quality, costs and access.”
