Directory Service Provides Free Hospital Pricing Transparency Information
Louisville, KY (PRWEB) May 30, 2006 –
Hospital pricing transparency has moved to a prominent place in national healthcare discussions, and American Hospital Directory (http://www.ahd.com) is the online destination for free, detailed hospital data for more than 6,000 U.S. hospitals. President Bush and the American Hospital Association are pushing for increased access to costs for hospital charges, with the goal of creating better-informed healthcare consumers. (American Hospital Directory and American Hospital Association are not affiliated.)
American Hospital Directory provides the operating details of virtually every hospital in the United States as a free online service. Thousands of interested consumers take advantage of the free service each day, eager to get information on a hospital’s clinical services, financial statistics, average costs and general characteristics. Its database of hospital information is built from both public and private sources, including Medicare claims data and hospital cost reports. The site’s design is easy to use and allows consumers to look up and compare as many hospitals as desired.
American Hospital Directory was founded the company in 1996, long before pricing transparency took center stage. Paul Shoemaker, president of American Hospital Directory, has extensive experience in the use of healthcare information for health policy analysis, strategic planning and operational management.
“The ahd.com website provides a reliable way to look up hospitals by name or location and see an extensive profile of the services they provide, their volumes, and even average charges for many services and procedures.” Shoemaker explains. “Over 7,000 people visit the free site every day. Though the site has been around for over ten years it is becoming increasingly important as people strive to
become better informed and take more responsibility for hospital selection.”
The company recently developed a web site with the Louisiana Hospital Association for consumers in that state: http://www.lahealthinform.org/
About American Hospital Directory
The American Hospital Directory (http://www.ahd.com) provides online data about more than 6,000 hospitals in the United States. The extensive database of information is built from both public and private sources including Medicare claims data (MedPAR and OPPS), hospital cost reports, and other files obtained from the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). Today, AHD serves more than 7,000 visitors per day.
Contact:
Barbara Eilert
(502) 396-2637
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