Comments on: 1970 Gas Price Wars applied to 2008 Healthcare http://redscrubs.com/2008/05/1970-gas-price-wars-applied-to-2008-healthcare/ The Resource for Medical Professionals Fri, 29 Aug 2008 23:19:37 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.0.11 by: Mona Lori http://redscrubs.com/2008/05/1970-gas-price-wars-applied-to-2008-healthcare/#comment-892 Fri, 16 May 2008 20:07:56 +0000 http://redscrubs.com/2008/05/1970-gas-price-wars-applied-to-2008-healthcare/#comment-892 I am an advocate of exposing true prices for health care services in order to (1) help consumers find the best value and (2) encourage provider competition. Health plans have no interest in disclosing prices to the public, so it’s really up to consumers to share these prices with each other. Alliance Community Hospital's announcement last month to offer patients $100 to turn in price data is an indication of just how dysfunctional our current health care system really is. Last year I created a platform for consumers to collaborate and share prices they paid for actual provider visits, along with their recommendations on the provider. We recently expanded the site to collect health care price data from multiple sources including consumers, providers, Government Medicare data, claims data, and websites with public price transparency tools. I think meaningful transparency and collaboration can be achieved if consumers step-up and decide this is important. Mona Lori www.OutofPocket.com I am an advocate of exposing true prices for health care services in order to (1) help consumers find the best value and (2) encourage provider competition. Health plans have no interest in disclosing prices to the public, so it’s really up to consumers to share these prices with each other. Alliance Community Hospital’s announcement last month to offer patients $100 to turn in price data is an indication of just how dysfunctional our current health care system really is. Last year I created a platform for consumers to collaborate and share prices they paid for actual provider visits, along with their recommendations on the provider. We recently expanded the site to collect health care price data from multiple sources including consumers, providers, Government Medicare data, claims data, and websites with public price transparency tools. I think meaningful transparency and collaboration can be achieved if consumers step-up and decide this is important.

Mona Lori
www.OutofPocket.com

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