A newly updated state online dashboard sheds light on the opaque finances of Oregon hospitals.
The dashboard looks at the payments hospitals receive from insurers for specific surgeries or other procedures, how those payments have changed, and how they differ regionally.
The online resource published by the Oregon Health Authority is one of several such dashboards posted online scrutinizing hospitals, part of the state’s efforts to track and curb the growth of health care costs.
The state will host an online webinar to talk about the updated dashboard on Aug. 8 between noon and 1 p.m.
It’s long been no secret that the payments commercial insurers make to hospitals for specific surgeries or procedures vary widely. And some critics have long pointed to those prices as a contributor to growing health costs. Now, the state online dashboard makes it easier to tell exactly how big those differences are.
Earlier this year, at an Oregon legislative hearing discussing hospital reimbursements, a researcher at a Brown University think tank, said efforts like Oregon’s dashboard are important.
The United States’ reliance on a market-based system to deliver health care is “a unique feature of the US versus other delivery systems,” said Christopher Whaley, an associate professor at Brown, at the May hearing. As a result of that, he added “I think it's really important that we have access to price transparency as well as competitive markets if we're going to have a functioning US healthcare system.”
According to the dashboard, commercial insurer reimbursement for a colonoscopy varied between hospitals by a factor of five for a colonoscopy in 2021. That year, a colonoscopy for a commercially insured patient produced a median insurance payment of $6,902 for Providence Seaside Hospital, as compared to just $1,316 for Grande Ronde Hospital in La Grande.
In 2022, the variance was even greater. Adventist Tillamook Regional Medical Center vaulted into first place with a median payment of $8,594 per colonoscopy, with Grande Ronde still lingering in last place with $1,328.
The dashboard looks at other median prices as well, such as for pregnancy-related procedures.
The updated dashboard includes new features such mapping regional differences. The dashboard also looks at how hospital’s payments from commercial insurers compare to the rates paid under the federal Medicare program.
Hospitals and consultants have long argued that Medicaid and Medicare reimbursements to providers don’t cover costs and don't keep up with inflation. Moreover, hospital leaders say they are battling commercial insurers who do not want to reimburse for appropriate and high quality care, or keep up with inflation driven by escalating labor costs.
Meanwhile, insurance companies have long faulted hospital consolidation for promoting excessive rates set by contract — an argument echoed by Whaley to lawmakers in May.
The situation becomes even more challenging for smaller insurers, as a PacificSource executive told The Lund Report earlier this year, as they battle consolidation among insurers as well.