The Foundation for a Healthy Kentucky recently convened over 60 Kentucky leaders in government, business, policy and healthcare for a facilitated discussion about price. Presenters included the National Academy for State Health Policy (NASHP), Consumers Union, Catalyst for Payment Reform (CPR), Castlight, CIVHC (Colorado’s All Payer Claims Database (APCD)  nonprofit administrator) and state leaders with the Kentucky Cabinet for Health and Family Services.

An “all Payer Claims Database (APCD)” was the focus of the work.  According to the APCD Council, APCDs are “large-scale databases that systematically collect health care claims data from a variety of payer sources which include claims from most health care providers.” Some of the information that state APCDs typically collect includes “patient demographics, provider codes, and clinical, financial, and utilization data.”

APCDs can provide data that policymakers can use to make informed health care policy decisions; essential information for consumers’ health care decisions; comprehensive data for researchers looking at health care use patterns, cost and quality. APCDs offer states clear comparisons of the cost, effectiveness, and performance of health care delivery systems at the local, state, and national levels.

An Issue Brief on this price transparency work is available at www.healthy-ky.org.