what happens when patients use these tools and are still charged more than expected?  Insurers and providers should be responsible for setting prices that are transparent, true and consistent.  No hidden fees or unexpected charges.

I guess it is too much for the Globe to do any real reporting as it is so much easier for them to echo a press release.

There are a couple of big problems with this:

It is maintained by Harvard Pilgrim Health INSURANCE (Using the word care in the name is deceptive as they don’t actually provide health care. It is warm and fuzzy though). As patient you want to get better by obtaining the best care possible.  HPHI wants to spend as little money as possible on your care and will have no problem directing you to someone that meets its rather than your goals.

The "quality" measures are garbage. The indicators used today are extremely limited and really can't measure quality across the entire spectrum of health care. Recently data is emerging showing  that these indicators discourage rather than improve health care quality. Providers are devoting tremendous amounts of resources to meet and document compliance on these limited indicators. This has led them to divert resources from other equally important areas.

What you have left is a biased, defective and incomplete web site. I say incomplete because HPHI ignores one factor determining healthcare costs. They aren’t publishing their administrative costs and the costs they force on providers.  Of course HPHI doesn’t want the public to know how much it costs to keep these parasites feeding on the healthcare system