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Demand for inpatient care is soft. Insurers and the government want to pay less for each service. New payment arrangements ask hospitals to take a degree of financial risk that patient costs exceed expectations. Against that backdrop, the record-setting financial results the Mayo Clinic released last week stand out. (Snowbeck, 3/7)

Price transparency is one of the missing links separating health care from a true market. Hospitals have list prices, cash prices, private insurance prices, Medicare and Medicaid rates, all for the same service. The list price can be 10 times greater than what Medicare pays. When a hospital and insurer reach a deal over prices, they sign a nondisclosure agreement. Insurers say this is necessary because hospitals that learned what their competitors were receiving would want the highest rates for themselves. Within five years, health policy analysts say, the remaining price secrets are likely to be in the open. (Landers, 3/9)