The Employers’ Forum of Indiana has unveiled a significant upgrade to its innovative hospital price and quality dashboard, Sage Transparency™. Launched at the National Healthcare Price Transparency Conference, Sage Transparency™ 2.0 introduces an array of new features, backed by the latest data from the RAND Employer Hospital Price Transparency study, designed to empower employers, policymakers, and the public with unprecedented insights into healthcare costs.
A Comprehensive Tool for Price and Quality Transparency
Sage Transparency™ 2.0 builds on the original dashboard, first released in 2022, by integrating new data covering hospital prices from 2020 to 2022 for over 4,000 hospitals and 2,000 ambulatory surgery centers (ASCs) across the United States. This update also introduces drug price data for physician-administered medications, a critical addition for understanding the full scope of healthcare expenses.
“Since its inception, Sage Transparency has been instrumental in bringing multiple vast data sets into one user-friendly platform,” said Gloria Sachdev, President and CEO of the Employers’ Forum of Indiana. “With over 37,000 user sessions, our tool has already influenced healthcare purchasing decisions, policy making, and media coverage. Sage Transparency™ 2.0 enhances this capability, making even more data accessible for employers, policymakers, academics, and journalists.”
Key Features and Enhancements
1. New Legislator Tab: A standout feature of the update is the legislator tab, which allows elected officials and their teams to access hospital price and quality data for every state and federal legislative district. This geocoded information, provided by data science consultants January Advisors, makes it easier for legislators to craft informed policies based on precise, localized data.
“I found Sage Transparency to be a critical tool for understanding hospital service prices and quality in Indiana,” noted Representative Donna Schaibley of the Indiana House of Representatives. “The ability to see this data at the district level is a tremendous resource for legislators nationwide.”
2. Expanded Data Sets: The latest round of the Employer Price Transparency study reveals, for the first time, the average prices paid for physician-administered medications like chemotherapy. This addition highlights a key area of growing concern for employer-sponsored insurance plans, with commercial insurance prices for these drugs averaging 208% of the average sales price (ASP), compared to Medicare’s 106% of ASP.
3. Enhanced Quality Metrics: The updated dashboard now includes additional quality metrics from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) and profitability data from the National Academy for State Health Policy (NASHP). Users can explore hospital readmissions, patient safety, and mortality rates, alongside quality rating trends over the past three years. NASHP’s commercial breakeven price metric further allows users to understand the reimbursement rates hospitals need from commercial payers to cover expenses without profit.
Empowering Stakeholders with Vital Information
Sage Transparency™ 2.0 is designed to be a comprehensive tool for diverse stakeholders. Whether you are an employer looking to manage healthcare costs, a policymaker crafting health legislation, or a journalist reporting on healthcare economics, this dashboard offers the detailed, actionable data needed to make informed decisions.
“While hospital prices account for the largest portion of employer-sponsored insurance plans, prescription prices are the fastest growing segment,” added Sachdev. “Our goal with Sage Transparency™ 2.0 is to provide real transparency into these costs, enabling users to make informed decisions based on the best available data.”
Join the Movement for Transparent Healthcare Pricing
The Employers’ Forum of Indiana invites all stakeholders to explore Sage Transparency™ 2.0 and take advantage of its enhanced features. By providing a clearer picture of healthcare pricing and quality, Sage Transparency™ 2.0 is a crucial step toward more informed, equitable healthcare purchasing and policy-making.
For more information or to access Sage Transparency™ 2.0, visit Sage Transparency or call 866-228-4347.