The General Assembly finds that public sector and private sector purchasers of health care need health care cost and utilization data to enable them to make informed choices among health care providers in the market place. The General Assembly finds it necessary to create a mandated uniform system in Illinois for the collection, analysis, and distribution of health care cost and utilization data.
     The purpose of this Article is to insure that data are available to make valid comparisons among health care providers of prices and utilization of services provided and to support ongoing analysis of the health care delivery system.