1970 Gas Price Wars applied to 2008 Healthcare
A new level of healthcare transparency is being implemented in Ohio at Alliance Community Hospital where it is paying patients $100 for their hospital bills and explanation of benefits (EOB). The information is put on their web site comparing themselves with other hospitals for patients to view. The goal as reported in amednews is to provide prospective patients that typically use competing hospitals for healthcare services to come over and use Alliance’s healthcare system. They do this by showing the pricing differences between Alliance Community Hospital and other surrounding hospitals.
All personal information is removed from submitted bills and EOBs prior to the information being put on the Alliance’s website. In November of 2006 the Ohio legislature required by law that hospitals post pricing data on their websites. Alliance is taking things a bit further. An attempt to look at Alliance’s EOB data was done but their web site wasn’t working at the time of this posting.
So hospitals are developing new ways of being transparent. In some respects many of us may feel that this unveiling of the price structure is a big deal, perhaps so in regards to healthcare as previously we – healthcare consumers – never really knew how much things used to cost until we got the bill after our care. Sort of like popping into a restaurant and ordering off the menu without prices. If you look at this a bit more closely this is no different than any other company that provides services to the public. There is a cost associated with purchasing products and services. They only thing that is new in healthcare with this new pricing information is that we all know exactly how much things are – too much.
The big question is, will this new cost visibility really make a difference in where people will shop for their healthcare? If hospital X charges $200 for a procedure and hospital Y charges $300 for the same procedure but the quality is better and hospital Y has a better patient safety record will patients go to hospital X? I would argue no.
Price clearly has a role when we are purchasing goods and services from any company be it healthcare or your local pizza shop. What matters most to people I think is the quality of the product and the level of customer service that a company consistently has. Displaying pricing is one thing but as I have said before, what about hospitals putting on their web sites the number of medication errors, wrong site surgery numbers, the number of patient falls, preventable infection rates, and other quality indicators? Perhaps publicizing the number of complaint letters providers get. The sky is the limit. If healthcare organizations are truly committed to patient safety, high quality healthcare, and patient satisfaction than perhaps airing some dirty laundry along with the menu prices would really influence healthcare consumer’s decisions on where to seek care.
About the Author
Mike Pringle is the author of Healthcare Today where he offers commentary and insight regarding today’s healthcare issues. Additionally he provides regular commentary for Red Scrubs and editorial content for Future Healthcare. He has over 20 years of nursing experience working both domestically and internationally. Mike has a Bachelor’s Degree in Nursing and a Masters Degree in Public Administration with a Healthcare emphasis. He specializes in both Emergency and Critical Care Nursing. He currently works at Falmouth Hospital as a Shift Manager for the emergency department.
Mona Lori responds:
Posted: May 16th, 2008 at 2:07 pm →
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