Site offers comparisons on maternity costs

Utahns can go online to find out how Utah hospitals compare in terms of charges, quality and patient safety when it comes to maternity care. And in coming months they'll be able to make similar comparisons in other health areas, including heart surgery and general surgery.

The Utah Department of Health and the Utah Health Data Committee on Tuesday issued the first of what will be a series of reports, the "2005 Utah Hospital Comparison Report for Maternity and Newborns," based on inpatient discharge data that hospitals must provide the state.

This and upcoming reports are the result of a bill passed in the last legislative session requiring state health officials to make such comparisons readily available to Utahns at no charge.

During the news conference to announce the release, the department also introduced a Web site specifically for such comparisons: health.utah.gov/myhealthcare. The site also contains information on health insurance costs, health care tips, guidance for finding a long-term care facility and links to state and national health care Web sites.

"In this day and age, it is vital that individuals become increasingly involved in their own health care," said Dr. A. Richard Melton, deputy director of the Utah Department of Health.

He said the state's vision of the department is an agency that promotes the "best health possible, where we can live and prosper in clean and safe communities. That can only be accomplished if our citizens are informed.

"We hope that citizens will view these tools as impartial, trusted and reliable" information sources to help them make healthcare decisions.

The American healthcare system has some serious problems, demonstrated by rising costs and increasing numbers of people who do not have insurance, said Clark Hinckley, chairman of the Utah Health Data Committee. The vast majority of consumers have said they want quality care and lower costs, he added, "but data has not been available" to allow comparisons.

The Legislature changed that when it ordered the department to compare quality, level of safety and charges, and to make that information available, he said.

The maternity comparison found wide differences in costs and also documented some trends. For instance, it found Utahns have fewer caesarean sections than the national average. And it found Utah women who have a C-section and then deliver a subsequent baby vaginally (generally considered a positive choice) do so at a higher rate than nationally, 19 percent compared to 14 percent, according to Keely Cofrin, health department HMO Program Manager and lead author on the maternal care report.