By next August the state of Connecticut wants to have the last three years of health claims data in a database that will help individuals make better decisions about their health care.
The database is supposed to give public health officials and consumers better information about how much a medical procedure will cost or how frequently certain medical services are accessed. The hope is it will give the state detailed information to help officials design various cost containment and quality improvement efforts.
In New Hampshire, which already has a database, it’s helped public health officials understand better the frequency at which Medicaid patients were using the emergency room as a doctor’s office. In some of the more rural parts of New Hampshire, the emergency room was the only place to see a doctor, Jo Porter, deputy director of the Institute for Health Policy and Practice, said Thursday at a Capitol forum on All-Payer Claims Databases.
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