I've talked about medical cost transparency (clearly stating the cost of medical services) by hospitals and doctors previously. While doctors and hospitals continue to drag their feet, the federal government and some insurers have begun to respond. Last week, President Bush signed an executive order requiring four federal agencies to compile and release information about the quality and price of health care provided to people they cover. Medicare now posts on its website how much it pays for 30 medical procedures in each of the nation's counties, along with data on how many of the treatments each hospital performed last year. In general, the more experience a facility has with a procedure, the better the outcome for the patient, studies show. Aetna, which covers 30 million beneficiaries, will make physician-specific information on fees, clinical quality and efficiency available to its members in seven states.

Consumers wouldn't think of buying a new car without knowing the sticker price and gathering some information about reliability, yet they'll go ahead with a knee replacement with little thought of the actual cost of treatment, and with virtually no information about their hospital's track record with that procedure. Patients who try to ask about price are unlikely to get a straight answer. "It depends" is how most hospitals will reply because they have sliding scales of fees based on a patient's insurance, discounts negotiated by health plans, and potential complications in treatment. Bills are incomprehensible.

Are you aware of other instance of medical cost transparency that you'd like to share?