The World’s Cheapest Hospital Has to Get Even Cheaper

Post by jrochkind1 » Thu, Mar 28, 2019, 8:05 PM UTC

smush wrote: post #2

Compared to high margin low volume surgeries in the US, this is low margin high volume. Its ingenious how the highest skilled individuals only step in for the trickiest part of the surgery, but the simpler tasks like getting to a heart are performed by lesser doctors or nurses. Some things make sense like having medical machines maintained in house. Other things, like sterilizing and reusing IV lines seem pretty risk…

Post by Jorge1o1 » Thu, Mar 28, 2019, 8:11 PM UTC

rb808 wrote: post #35

rb808 wrote: post #30

$2k for major surgery, nice! Last time I went to ER it was $2k for the doctor's assistant to ask a few questions and put a band aid on.

Actually it wasn't a critically urgent problem but needed doctors attention. If someone wants an idea for an app or website - a way to lookup local ERs by price would be great.

Post by rtkwe » Thu, Mar 28, 2019, 8:21 PM UTC

jrochkind1 wrote: post #51

smush wrote: post #2

Compared to high margin low volume surgeries in the US, this is low margin high volume. Its ingenious how the highest skilled individuals only step in for the trickiest part of the surgery, but the simpler tasks like getting to a heart are performed by lesser doctors or nurses. Some things make sense like having medical machines maintained in house. Other things, like sterilizing and reusing IV lines seem pretty risk…

Sterilizing and re-using IV lines definitely carries some risk. The alternative to that "risk" in India seems to be letting most not-rich people die because they can not afford to do those things differently. And the Indian health service is telling him he's _still_ costing too much. The result will be taking more risks, with some people paying the price for them. Because that is what India can afford. Meanwhile, in…

Post by Jorge1o1 » Thu, Mar 28, 2019, 8:22 PM UTC

dragonwriter wrote: post #54

Jorge1o1 wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My fear is that if hospitals start to make their prices publicly available, it will drive prices upward not downward. Why? Because hospitals have no incentive to compete on price. The majority of people get ambulance'd to the nearest hospital, not necessarily the cheapest one. So any hospital that notices it's charging less than its competitors will raise its price, because, why not? It's a very inelastic demand.

> The majority of people get ambulance'd to the nearest hospital, not necessarily the cheapest one. But is ambulanced-in patients the majority of hospital business?

Post by digitaltrees » Thu, Mar 28, 2019, 8:25 PM UTC

notyourday wrote: post #9

rhombocombus wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The difference here is not that we don't do surgeries efficiently, but that we are subject to the effects of regulatory capture, which stops any kind of price competition in its tracks and leads to $300 bags of saline.

I most am most likely going to need an ACL surgery in a couple of months so we will see how it goes. So far I found out that pretty much every "X is difficult" is a gospel peddled by lazy. This is my first relatively major incident so I'm running pretty blind -- I'm approaching it as I approach needing to do something in business. Instead of going to the ER ($2,500), I went to a walk in medical center ($120), got see…