OH goal: Show costs at hospitals

Gov. John Kasich's proposed expansion of Ohio's Medicaid program would give the state the "moral authority" to insist on greater price transparency from hospitals and other healthcare providers, a state official said last week. Extending coverage to 275,000 uninsured Ohioans by expanding Medicaid would reduce the need to shift those costs. In addition, the state's more than $17 billion in annual spending on health care for Medicaid enrollees, prisoners, state employees and retirees gives it enormous purchasing power. Ohio will use that power to insist that hospitals and other health-care providers reveal more information about the actual cost of procedures and the quality of care, said Greg Moody, director of the state's Office of Health Transformation.