How can patients make good choices if they cannot compare prices and quality of service in the marketplace?  This is the problem of transparency.  Yet while pundits talk and politcians threaten to legislate, the private sector already has developed the tools to solve these problems.

• A model developed by HealthMarket allows its insureds to compare the price they will pay for 20,000 procedures performed by virtually every doctor in the country.
• A product developed by Simbro allows patients to compare quality and price data for most hospitals in the country.
• A product developed by eMedicalfiles creates needed transparency for doctors — it allows medical records to travel electronically as patients go from doctor to doctor and hospital to hospital.

The NCPA is holding a briefing on these techonologies on Tuesday.