PricePoint Launches

In 2005, WHAIC launched PricePoint, its groundbreaking pricing transparency website.  The original version of PricePoint allowed any member of the public to access pricing and utilization information about any service at any Wisconsin hospital.  The information is displayed to allow easy comparisons to similarly sized or located facilities.  Users can also receive facility-specific information about the quality and safety of care (via a link to WHA's CheckPoint Web site), average aggregate discounts by payer category, and uncompensated care information.  Joe Kachelski, then vice president of the WHA Information Center, said he expected the Web site to generate interest, but the magnitude of the response was somewhat surprising.  “We did not expect to have as much traffic as we have had. The Web site was actually down twice, for short periods of time, because of the volume of activity. If there was any question that there was a demand for information about hospital charges and services, I think we now have the answer.”

PricePoint provides information that is far more current and far more comprehensive than other websites.  PricePoint started with displaying information on all hospitalizations and was updated quarterly.

PricePoint is widely recognized as a national model for hospital pricing transparency.  WHAIC had begun hosting different versions of PricePoint for other states.  At one point, it was hosting PricePoint for ten other states.

CheckPoint Launches

WHAIC developed and launched CheckPoint for WHA in 2006.  CheckPoint is a voluntary hospital quality reporting program.  It was the first statewide, voluntary quality reporting initiative in the country.  CheckPoint provides consumers information on process measures, which reflect clinical interventions that medical experts agree should be provided during a hospital stay.

CheckPoint has produced results by helping Wisconsin hospitals to improve the quality of care they provide. By sharing information, Wisconsin hospitals can benchmark their progress against other hospitals in the state. In addition, the CheckPoint initiative has been a catalyst for Wisconsin hospitals to contact peers that are doing well in a clinical area to identify best practices that can be implemented in their own organization. This sharing of best practices facilitates rapid improvement. For every measure on CheckPoint performance has either improved or stayed at the same high levels, making patients in Wisconsin’s hospitals safer and providing them with better care. After more than a decade of use CheckPoint continues to live up to its promise of providing useful information and improving hospital quality. 
 

COVID-19 Situational Awareness Dashboard Created

PricePoint Redesigned

WHAIC launched a redesign to its PricePoint tool, in January 2023, enabling consumers, patients, and other users to easily access and compare pricing information of health care services across the state.

The cornerstone feature of this redesign is a new plain-language search function, made possible by WHAIC partnering with Intelligent Medical Objects (IMO), known for capturing precise clinical data at the point of care and then standardizing it across settings and sources. The new search feature not only speeds up users’ research time but also allows apples-to-apples comparisons of health care costs across the state. This applies to both consumers and providers, by allowing them to search for generic terms, such as “mammogram,” or the CPT code. Searches for either term produce information about multiple facilities’ median charges, average length of stay, and more for that particular service.

“Wisconsin has a long history of voluntary health care price transparency efforts by hospitals, with WHA’s PricePoint serving as the cornerstone of these efforts,” said WHAIC Vice President Jennifer Mueller. “This user experience redesign is intended to assist consumers as they work with their health care provider and, importantly, their insurance company or other third-party payers to determine the financial obligations for hospital services they receive.”

In addition to the newly announced features, PricePoint also delivers a variety of consumer-focused tools to assist patients in accessing necessary information from other entities besides hospitals, including:

• Hospitals’ Financial Assistance Policy and Contact Information: Patients can easily access hospitals’ financial assistance policy and contact information.
• Quality Data: Users can click the WHAIC CheckPoint tool logo when navigating each hospital's facility information page to gain direct access to information about that hospital's quality data.
• Specific Out-of-Pocket Costs: Consumers can input their specific health insurance provider and PricePoint will provide that insurer’s contact information so the consumer can contact them directly to solicit details about out-of-pocket costs specific to them and their circumstances.
• Insurance Information: Consumers who don’t already have a coverage policy can find information and a menu of options to obtain insurance coverage.
• Post-Care Services: PricePoint provides information about statewide averages for additional post-hospital services to help consumers know what to expect beyond the service they’re searching for.