"Patients want to have these conversations and providers want to have these conversations, but neither party knows how to start the conversation," said Deborah Roseman, principal project specialist at America's Essential Hospitals.
The online repository was funded through a grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation as part of its Cost Conversation project. To create the tools and resources on the site, the not-for-profit distributed $1.4 million in grant funds to eight organizations to research the best messages and workflows that would support cost of care conversations.
The tools on the site range from a pocket card clinicians can use to screen patients for cost burden to a workflow chart that outlines steps providers can take to address cost concerns.
Roseman said the repository will likely make it easier for clinicians to address the issue faster because they have tools readily available. Clinicians often complain they don't have enough time with patients.
"Having these tools available will actually save time as opposed to stumbling over the conversations and losing time," Roseman said.
The repository will be updated as more tools are developed.