News: 2022 payer price transparency data dwarfs hospital data, review shows

The hospital price transparency rule has been in effect since January 1, 2021, but hospitals are already far behind in data compared to payer data that been made available since the [payer rule] started on July 1, 2022. According to Turquoise Health’s 2022 Price Transparency Data Year in Review, they’ve only been able to collect about three terabytes of hospital data compared to 630 terabytes of payer data. That is a sizeable 20,090% increase in comparison, HealthLeaders reported.

In its review, Turquoise Health compared the difference between the hospital and payer data points to the size difference between a bowling pin and a sequoia tree. To further illustrate the point, they noted the results in the payer data came out to 78 billion price records. If each record was a mile it would be the equivalent of traveling from Earth to Neptune and back 14 times. This is further exacerbated by the fact that the hospital regulation has been in place four times longer. Despite the amount of data from payers, however, the latter have yet to find a great way to display it for consumers.

“The takeaway: payers can drastically reduce their file sizes by taking measures to ensure smart architecture,” Turquoise Health said. “For example, using references to provider groups within rates, as opposed to duplicating the provider group data within each rate shrinks the overall file sizes.”

Editor’s note: To read HealthLeader’s coverage of this story, click here. To read Turquoise Health’s 2022 year in review, click here.