HHS Secretary Michael Leavitt is celebrating the first anniversary of the President’s executive order on health care pricing and quality transparency and health information technology.

“In its first year, the President’s Executive Order has begun to have a culture-changing effect in the health care sector,” Secretary Leavitt said. “For the first time, we are working effectively together to make possible reliable and consistent measures of quality and price. This is the foundation we must have for a future of affordable, effective, and high quality health care.”

Each of the federal agencies subject to the order, including the U.S. Office of Personnel Management, submitted progress reports. Secretary Leavitt noted in his press release that

OPM, which administers the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program, is promoting health care price and quality transparency through its contracts with private sector insurance carriers and is also requiring them to report on new quality
of care measures. This fall, federal employees will see enhanced consumer information on price and quality transparency in the 2007 Guide to Federal Benefits on OPM’s Web site.