Knowledge, they say, is power. It’s also a necessary tool for crafting cost-effective medical practices and protecting patient safety.

Medicare has an enormous claims database from which valuable knowledge can be mined. Finally, within about one year, employers, insurance companies and consumer groups will be able to unearth its information to produce “report cards” on doctors and hospitals.

This blog has championed this access to information, and the subject also figures mightily in “The Life You Save: Nine Steps to Finding the Best Medical Care and Avoiding the Worst,” my book about patient advocacy and medical mistakes.

As described in an Associated Press story, researching a health-care provider’s history in the Medicare database has not been possible before, thanks to a decades-old court decision. Releasing such information, the ruling read, violates the privacy of doctors. The medical establishment was vigorous and vocal in not wanting the people who pay for and receive its ministrations to know how its members rate.