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Website Ranks Care Quality of State Hospitals and Care Providers

cronkitenewsonline.com/Bastien Inzaurralde

There’s some new information now available online to help you choose a hospital both by quality of care — and what it will cost you. Arizona Public Radio’s Howard Fischer reports.

State Health Director Will Humble said the question of cost may not matter if you’ve got really great insurance. But, he said the website his agency runs could prove crucial for everyone else, including those enrolled in the Affordable Care Act plans with high copays and deductibles.

“You’re paying 40 percent of the actuarial sound cost as a copay potentially. So you have some exposure with that kind of a plan. Or if you’re under 30 and you bought the catastrophic plan, you’ve got some exposure to your own pocketbook. This gives you an ability to do some comparison shopping, like Auto Trader lets you avoid being ripped off for a used car,” he said.

Donna Courtney who manages all the data for the agency, said cost isn't the only information available.

“There’s also a particular quality measure for patient experience that addresses things such as ‘my pain was kept under control,’ ‘how quickly did the nurse come when I called,’ ‘how well were things explained to me in my care as a patient,’” she said.

But, it gets even more specific, right up to your chances of dying in a given hospital because a serious condition was not identified and treated. A link to all the data is available at www.azdhs.gov.

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