Employers' Forum of Indiana Introduces Sage Transparency, Built Using New RAND Hospital Price Study

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May 05, 2022, 11:30 ET

New Sage Transparency tool combines data from upcoming RAND 4.0 study, along with other major health data sources, into public dashboard for employers, journalists, and policymakers

INDIANAPOLIS, May 5, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Using data from the upcoming RAND 4.0 Hospital Price Transparency Study, Employers' Forum of Indiana today launched Sage Transparency, a publicly accessible and customizable dashboard to demonstrate hospital value. In addition to the RAND 4.0 study, Sage Transparency is comprised of data from leading health data sources like the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, Turquoise Health, Healthcare Bluebook, and the National Academy for State Health Policy.

Comparison of state-level RAND 4.0 data, including Indiana and surrounding states. Rankings are reflective of total facility prices plus physician fees, compared with Medicare prices.

Example of Sage Transparency hospital directory, showing multiple data points for a single facility. Below the charts denoting NASHP payer mix, CMS Star Ratings, and Quantros quality data are price data points from the RAND 4.0 report.

Sage Transparency is a free-to-use, customizable dashboard which allows the user to compare metrics of hospital price and quality across states, health systems, and facilities. Sage will be continually updated with new data from participating partners and as additional RAND studies are published in the years to come. Employers' Forum of Indiana selected technology firm Mathematica to develop the tool.

"With Sage Transparency, we're looking to equip employers, purchasing groups, journalists, and elected officials with price and quality data from thousands of hospitals across the country," said Gloria Sachdev, president and CEO of Employers' Forum of Indiana. "Each iteration of the RAND study has brought useful new data into the fold. Now users have access to that data and more in an intuitive way that can help them better understand and compare hospital prices."

Later this summer, Employers' Forum of Indiana will begin accepting requests for custom reports from Sage Transparency that incorporate further data points from providers like Turquoise Health and Healthcare Bluebook.

"Employers with a workforce spread across multiple metro areas and even multiple states can find information on the most high-value hospital services for their employees," added Sachdev.

The Employers' Forum of Indiana unveiled Sage Transparency in a live demo at the National Hospital Price Transparency Conference in Indianapolis. Data providers and partners followed with additional information about the dashboard and its capabilities.

The author of the RAND 4.0 Hospital Price Transparency Study, Chris Whaley, also shared his preliminary findings at the conference.

"The wide variation in hospital prices presents a potential savings opportunity for employers," said Whaley. "With Sage Transparency, HR leaders can really drill down to see the differences in price between individual hospitals and hospital systems. Spending an hour or two with Sage is a significant way for hospital price transparency to inform employers' benefit strategy."

The RAND Corporation will release the full RAND 4.0 study at a later date. It analyzes claims data from employers and private insurers that included more than 4,000 hospitals and 4,000 additional ambulatory surgical centers across 49 states and the District of Columbia.

To use Sage Transparency, visit www.SageTransparency.co m.

About Employers' Forum of Indiana
The Employers' Forum of Indiana is a not for profit employer-led multi-stakeholder coalition whose mission is to improve the value payers and patients receive for their health care expenditures. Forum members include employers, health plans, hospitals/health-systems, providers, and numerous other interested healthcare stakeholders who work collaboratively to improve health care in Indiana.

SOURCE Employers' Forum of Indiana