CONSUMER HEALTH CARE DATA OFFERED BY THE STATE

New publications of the Missouri Department of Health make shopping for health care a little easier.

Garland Land, director of the Division of Health Resources for Missouri, said: "No one would go out and buy a car or a suit of clothing without asking the price. Some things we know we dicker for; other things we wait until they go on sale. Health care is probably the only service we purchase and then learn what it will cost."

Land spoke Thursday to about 50 members of the SEMO Business Group of Health in Cape Girardeau. He advocates that health-care consumers become as knowledgeable as possible about what they are buying.

To help, a new state law requires Missouri hospitals and outpatient centers to disclose their prices to the Department of Health. A buyers' guide of outpatient procedures listing prices has been published in a 20-page booklet. It is available for $3.

"The survey is in the field now for 1994 data, and the new report on outpatient procedures should be out in July," Land said. "We will be looking at how prices change."

Plus, he said, a new report on obstetrics will be released in March. Land said that buyers' guide includes charges and quality of care indicators.

"We feel people shouldn't go just on price alone," he said.

The report looks at services hospitals provide for obstetrics patients -- car-seat loan programs and breastfeeding education. It also lists caesarean section rates.

"Research shows it should be around 15 percent. The state average is about 22 percent, but at some hospitals it's up to 40 percent," Land said. The number of ultrasounds performed, the number of low-birthweight babies born, the newborn death rate are also offered.

In addition, Land said, 300 women who delivered at each hospital were surveyed about their experience ranging from the physician and nurses to the billing service. "We also asked, Would you recommend the facility to someone else and would you go back yourself?" Land said.

"We have not tried to rank hospitals. Some indicators will have more importance than others. We let the women decide what is important to them."

Land said this type of buyers' guide -- combining costs with quality indicators -- is a first in the nation. "We're quite excited.

"In the future we hope to develop more of these types of reports, maybe for cancer and then for emergency room services," he said.

The reports are meant to be user friendly and easily understood, Land said, and include information about the health-care system itself.

"We need to get consumers informed and to understand how the system works so they can help contain costs," Land said. "Information is power. That's why we've never had it before."

The outpatient reports have been distributed through insurance companies, business health coalitions, to hospitals, pharmacists, and physicians.

"Physicians may be the last one to know what hospitals charge," Land said. After the report was released, Land said he had a call from a St. Louis physician outraged because his patients were canceling appointments. The doctor was practicing at an institution charging $3,000 for a procedure while others in the area were charging about $400, he said. "The doctor had no idea."

An advisory committee is working with the state division to oversee collection of data and make sure the information is presented accurately. Mary Dunn of the SEMO Business Group on Health served on that committee.

Dunn said that since the buyers' guide for outpatient procedures was released she has heard from local providers that they are reviewing all their charges. "That's good news for us," she said. "We are interested in quality care at an affordable cost."

She has a waiting list started for people interested in receiving the obstetrics report.

For information or copies, you may also write the Division of Health Resources, Missouri Department of Health, P.O. Box 570, Jefferson City, Mo. 65102, or call 314-751-6279.