SPOTLIGHT: HHS holding back on physician performance data

HHS Secretary Mike Leavitt has spoken out at length in favor of greater transparency in the healthcare system, and has backed that up by offering performance data on health plans, hospitals, home health and other providers available. However, it still isn't offering publicly-available physician performance data, notes attorney Bruce Merlin Fried. While there's many reasons for doing so--most notably protecting physician privacy--there comes a point where privacy conflicts with transparency and they simply don't mix, Fried suggests. Article [1]