It is absolutely amazing how difficult it is sometimes to
find out how much it costs to go to a healthcare facility, either a hospital
and/or a clinic and receive a procedure or treatment. If you have ever asked
for the price of a procedure you know how difficult it is to get a price or even
an answer. Those of us with high deductible healthcare plans, or even no
healthcare have figuratively (or maybe literally) pulled out our hair trying to
get an answer on ‘what is this going
to cost me to come in and get something done!’
Accomplishing healthcare cost transparency is a step in the
right direction if our country is ever going to get our costs under control.
A recent opinion article written by a healthcare executive,
Douglas Ghertner, criticized an attempt by CMS to release information about how
we might become better healthcare consumers in an article published by CNBC. In the article Ghertner points out
that while CMS’ intentions may have been sincere, the attempt neglected to
capture what costs are truly conveyed to the actual patients. In point, CMS
uses hospital charges and did not actually take into account what the reimbursements
were after Medicare, Medicaid and insurers have negotiated what they would
actually pay the hospital.
In the noted study, CMS also neglected to take into account
quality of care measures that hospitals monitor. Certainly they don’t believe
that all healthcare is created equal, and could probably agree that some
measure should be in place for consumers to judge the quality of care they
receive.
Ghertner also mentions in his article the increase need for
this healthcare cost transparency, noting a study that showed the rise in high
deductible healthcare plans.
Finally, Ghertner talks about the increasing need from a
national perspective to increase this transparency.
“A recent analysis by West
Health Policy Institute suggests that transparency initiatives could cut $100
billion over 10 years from health spending. This may be a small step towards
reducing the trillions of dollars we spend each year on health care in this
country, but it is a step in the right direction. Additionally, as we improve
our ability to make public provider level outcomes from a quality perspective,
the patient can assess the value of health-care services, forcing providers to
compete on quality as well as cost.”
Hopefully those of us who manage healthcare today will be
able to take additional steps to assist patients healthcare cost decisions.
Share your Thoughts:
Have you ever tried to find out the price of a procedure before having the procedure? Was it difficult? Do you think transparency in healthcare costs is important? Do you think that health care policy should be transparent? What types of improvements would you like to see in your healthcare?
Thank you to Baylor University MBA Healthcare for an education that encourages critical and creative thinking to solve complex healthcare and business problems.
Sources:
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