Leavitt: Consumers need info about medical care

RALEIGH -- The nation's top health care official today urged North Carolina physicians to do their part in building a health care system that provides patients with more and better information about the quality and cost of their medical care.

"The problem today is that nobody knows," U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Michael O. Leavitt said. "People have no way of knowing if they're getting good quality or value."

Leavitt came here to meet with the board of the N.C. Medical Society, a physician professional group that represents more than 11,000 doctors in the state.

President Bush issued an executive order in August directing federal agencies that administer or support government health insurance programs to provide consumers with more complete and open information about health care cost and quality.

The federal Medicare program, for example, already gathers a limited amount of quality information from hospitals nationally. The program checks hospital compliance with clinically proven "best practices," such as giving aspirin to heart attack victims shortly after their attack.

Leavitt assured the society's board members that, as the federal government pushes for better information on the quality of care, the factors measuring care will be determined by clinicians, not financial managers or health insurers. He also acknowledged that it will take years before health care consumers routinely can compare quality and cost before seeking care.

"If you're looking at tasks, this is the equivalent of going to the moon, and going to the moon didn't happen overnight," Leavitt said. "It's going to take time but it's the right thing to do."