Professor Sara Rosenbaum Named Among Founding Directors of FAIR Health - Goal of Transparency and Fairness in Health Insurance and Physician Payment Pricing

WASHINGTON - Sara Rosenbaum, J.D., Hirsh Professor of Health Law and Policy and chair of the Department of Health Policy at The George Washington University School of Public Health and Health Services, was named as one of three Founding Directors of FAIR Health, Inc. by New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo. The not-for-profit corporation, established by Attorney General Andrew Cuomo as part of a legal settlement with the health insurance industry, has a stated mission of bringing “transparency, accountability, and fairness” to the setting of prices for physician services by health insurers. 

FAIR Health is financed by a nearly $100 million financial settlement as part of a wide-ranging investigation by Cuomo’s office into how the health insurance industry reimburses consumers for out-of-network health care charges. The corporation will oversee the development of a consumer website and a research database through a special arrangement with the Syracuse University, Cornell University, the University of Rochester, SUNY Upstate Medical University and the University at Buffalo. The initiative will permit consumers, for the first time, to compare health care costs before choosing a provider.  It will also result in a comprehensive physician fee data base that will be made available to universities nationwide for research and scholarship.