Oregon's rating for transparency in its health care system has gone up substantially this year, according to one trade group.
The reason: Last year, the Oregon Legislature passed a bill to publicize pricing information.
The national group Catalyst For Payment Reform grades states on a series of health care metrics, such as how accurate the price of a procedure is in relation to what patients really pay.
For example, a person with private insurance is going to pay less for a gall bladder that someone without insurance.
Because Oregon now makes its pricing for procedures available to customers through that new law, the state went from an 'F' to 'B' rating in Catalyst's latest assessment.
Andy Van Pelt with the Oregon Association of Hospitals and Health Systems hosts the website, OregonHospitalQuality.org. He called the upgrade great news.
"At the end of the day, this gives patients another piece of information to make decisions with their health care providers,” he said.
Another new report out of the Oregon Health Authority finds that as more people become insured under the Affordable Care Act, the more the financial health of Oregon's hospitals has improved.