Submitted electronically to transparency@cassidy.senate.gov
Re: Stakeholder request for information on pricing/financial transparency in healthcare
Dear Senators Cassidy, Bennet, Grassley, Carper, Young, and McCaskill:
Thank you for your bipartisan effort to increase transparency in healthcare. The West Health Institute has long been an advocate of empowering healthcare consumers through increased transparency. The following is a description of our organization and responses to questions that we feel could be useful to you as you consider legislative action on healthcare transparency.
Solely funded by philanthropists Gary and Mary West, the nonprofit and nonpartisan Gary and Mary West Health Institute is an applied medical research organization and part of West Health, which includes the Gary and Mary West Foundation in San Diego, and the Gary and Mary West Health Policy Center in Washington, D.C. These organizations work together toward a shared mission dedicated to enabling seniors to successfully age in place with access to highquality, affordable health and support services that preserve and protect their dignity, quality of life and independence.
We thank you for the opportunity to submit these comments and hope they are helpful to you as you tackle our shared goal of increasing pricing transparency in healthcare. Should you have any questions or require additional information, please feel free to contact me at talash@westhealth.org.
Sincerely,
Tim Lash
West Health Institute Responses to Pricing Transparency Questions in Healthcare
What information is currently available to consumers on prices, out-of-pocket costs, and quality? What information is not currently available, but should be made available to empower consumers, reduce costs, increase quality, and improve the system? What role should cash price play in greater price transparency? How should this be defined?