In the largest show of support to date, representatives from dozens of area businesses, government agencies and health-care insurers gathered Downtown yesterday to endorse the Bush administration's initiative to give consumers better information about the cost and quality of health-care services.

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Last summer, President Bush issued an executive order directing government agencies to make publicly available information about the price and quality of medical services received by beneficiaries in Medicare and other federal health-care programs.

In November, Health and Human Services Secretary Mike Leavitt urged employers in the private and public sectors to take the same steps.

So-called price and quality "transparency" is the key to Mr. Bush's plan for addressing runaway health-care costs by introducing competition in the system and allowing consumers to make informed decisions about their health-care purchases.

Thus far, it has been difficult -- if not impossible -- for consumers to be savvy shoppers of health care because doctors, hospitals and insurers generally have not been prepared to provide good information about the cost of services or quality of care.

That point was driven home in January, when the Post-Gazette contacted a handful of area hospitals asking for prices for several common medical procedures. The newspaper was able to get estimates for a routine mammogram at four of six centers that were contacted, but several were partial quotes, which didn't include physician charges for reading the X-rays. The PG struck out when attempting to get quotes for more complicated procedures, including a colonoscopy and heart catheterization.

More than 80 public and private businesses and organizations in the Pittsburgh region yesterday pledged to work together to provide quality and price information about doctors, hospitals and other medical providers for employees in their health-care insurance programs.

"This community has pulled together like no other community in the country," HHS mid-Atlantic regional director Gordon Woodrow said prior to the signing ceremony at the PPG Place Wintergarden. The government has sought commitments in two dozen cities thus far. "Pittsburgh really has a pioneering spirit."

Some of yesterday's signees included the Allegheny Conference on Community Development, Allegheny County, Citizens Bank, Equitable Resources, Giant Eagle, Highmark Inc., Jewish Healthcare Foundation, Kennametal Inc., National City Bank, PPG Industries, Robert Morris University, UPMC Health Plan, U.S. Steel Corp. and Westinghouse Electric Co.

Mr. Leavitt had been scheduled as the keynote speaker but didn't make it because his US Airways flight was delayed in Washington, D.C.

In a brief telephone interview yesterday, he praised the region for its "bipartisan and unilateral spirit of cooperation."

Mr. Leavitt also recognized efforts of the Pittsburgh Regional Health Initiative by naming it an official "community leader" for organizing private sector support for the government's reform plan.

The communitywide coalition is one of just eight regional organizations nationwide to receive the designation, which acknowledges the Pittsburgh Regional Health Initiative for its nearly decade-long efforts aimed at improving the quality of health care through the elimination of medical errors.