The Centers of Medicare and Medicaid Services last week launched a website that tracks how much it spends on Medicare patients in hospitals for the most treated illnesses and conditions, according to Government Health IT.

HHS announced April 7 several online programs it plans as part of the administration’s Open Government directive to make government operations and performance more accessible to the public. According to the HHS plan, HHS stores a significant amount of resources that can be useful for citizens to understand what the agency is doing, as well as help the public hold the private sector accountable.

The beta release on April 5 of the CMS site offers statistics from its Inpatient Prospective Payment System data based on medical claims the agency paid, their volume and by hospital in a dashboard or graphical format. The data covers information from inpatient discharges from January 2006 to December 2009 and will be updated monthly.

HHS is working with technology vendors, employers, providers and others to determine the best applications of the data, including interactive health maps, competitions and social-networking games to educate consumers about health. Among other planned online efforts, the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT is developing a performance measurement system and online site that demonstrates the status of its programs, such as monitoring its many grant awardees in advancing the adoption of electronic health records.