Earlier quoted context omitted.
What's the purpose of the software?
Replacing the middle men
Middle man out algorithms
Hospital prices are about to go public in the U.S.
241–250 of 390 posts
Re: Hospital prices are about to go public in the U.S.
#242I take issue with this headline. Hospital prices are already , by law, public in the US. The new rule makes it required to post them online , whereas previously you might have to call/email the hospital to get the price list rather than looking at their website. This is an important distinction, IMO, because I have seen people saying that this is an important step because "insurance/patients can now negotiate easier…
Not really at this scale. I work for a health care non profit. Medicare has set prices they will pay and the consumer can get estimates for some general procedures but nothing like this. We are going from price estimates for many procedures to a twenty thousand CSV list published online.
Re: Hospital prices are about to go public in the U.S.
#243One thing I advocate is fixed pricing. It's great to put prices online, but as long as insurance companies and such get to make deals there will be no real transparency or competition. The one downside I see to enforcing the prices is that it would ruin this ability to offer a break to people who need it. On the other hand, with enforce posted prices those prices would come down to levels similar to what insurance co…
It's a good goal, but this is a very complex system.
For example, if published prices were brought down to slightly-above-insurance rates, fewer people would buy insurance.
Consequently, insurers would have less bargaining power, further erroding their price advantage (and financial solvency).
As an end result, absent regulatory mandate, non-high deductible plans would cease to be market viable.
Providers, insurers, and patients are in a zero-sum competition for the same dollars.
The ultimate question is -- do we want the US medical system to look like the US air travel system?
On the whole, it seems like it would be better than what we've got. But I think we could do better (specifically: smooth boom/bust cycles, increase healthy competition)
Re: Hospital prices are about to go public in the U.S.
#244Pro tip: I was a neurosurgical anesthesiologist at the University of Virginia Health Sciences Center for twelve years (1983-1995). Every now and then I'd get a call from our billing office that they'd received a letter from a patient I'd cared for who was too poor to pay what our department had billed (usually many thousands of dollars: I had NO IDEA what our charges were, BTW, nor did any of my colleagues in the dep…
My experience is that hospitals have switched to a zero tolerance policy around this in the last few years. They'd rather make no concessions and sell bad debt for pennies on the dollar than set a precedent that there are alternative channels of payment. The one lifeline they give you is an interest free loan. From an economic standpoint, I'm sure this optimizes revenue. From a humanitarian standpoint, it's disturbin…
Caveat: All hospitals not managed identically.
I'm sure there's a lot of varying billing policy, hospital to hospital. And varying ability to financially write off care.
As a gut guess, I'd expect rural hospitals to be the worst about this and suburban the best.
Re: Hospital prices are about to go public in the U.S.
#245I was curious at what determines medical prices after recent stay in hospital, my bill was bizarre and it seemed that different hospitals charge substantially different amounts. So I wrote a medical pricing app to explore hospital bills and medicare reimbursement
I still don't understand why pricing so different throughout the country, but at least there is a pretty app to visualize it
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/u-s-medical-prices/id1376580...
Re: Hospital prices are about to go public in the U.S.
#246One thing I advocate is fixed pricing. It's great to put prices online, but as long as insurance companies and such get to make deals there will be no real transparency or competition. The one downside I see to enforcing the prices is that it would ruin this ability to offer a break to people who need it. On the other hand, with enforce posted prices those prices would come down to levels similar to what insurance co…
It's a good goal, but this is a very complex system. For example, if published prices were brought down to slightly-above-insurance rates, fewer people would buy insurance. Consequently, insurers would have less bargaining power, further erroding their price advantage (and financial solvency). As an end result, absent regulatory mandate, non-high deductible plans would cease to be market viable. Providers, insurers,…
> For example, if published prices were brought down to slightly-above-insurance rates, fewer people would buy insurance.
Would they? I don't buy insurance so my doctor visits are only $20 - I buy insurance so that if something catastrophic happens to me, I'm not on the hook for hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Even if the cost of (e.g., brain surgery, emergency appendectomy, resetting shattered bones) was the same as what insurance pays, I still wouldn't be able to afford it.
Re: Hospital prices are about to go public in the U.S.
#247Just in time for end of year tax donations, and on a related note, I’m a big fan of RIP medical debt. They buy up medical debt for pennies on the dollar, then forgive it.
It’s too late to prevent credit score dings, but at least it gets rid of collectors for someone.
By law, when debt is sold to collectors, the person that owes the debt should have the option to pay the price offered to the collector. In the current system, hospitals are just paying shady crooks to borderline-illegally hassle people.
Re: Hospital prices are about to go public in the U.S.
#248Pro tip: I was a neurosurgical anesthesiologist at the University of Virginia Health Sciences Center for twelve years (1983-1995). Every now and then I'd get a call from our billing office that they'd received a letter from a patient I'd cared for who was too poor to pay what our department had billed (usually many thousands of dollars: I had NO IDEA what our charges were, BTW, nor did any of my colleagues in the dep…
I would prefer not resorting to begging.
Re: Hospital prices are about to go public in the U.S.
#249I was in a hospital in Singapore recently, and the prices for doctor consultation fees, staying in a room, and even certain tests were listed right at the front of the emergency room desk. After the patient I was with was stabilized, the nurse confirmed with us verbally what the rough cost should be for the rest of what the doctor prescribed, and asked if we wished to proceed. We could have said no and gone elsewhere…
Would you prefer the Singaporean norm (clearly posted prices) to the Canadian/European one (free at the point of use)?
There is no single "European" model.
Re: Hospital prices are about to go public in the U.S.
#250One way we could wheedle useful information out of this is how the published prices relate to other providers, especially if there are huge discrepancies. Telling me an average MRI has an average list price of $1000 at provider A tells me nothing. But if provider B says theirs is $10,000? That could be pointing to something important.
The ability to “shop around” for cheaper care sounds fantastic. But could that system actually work for healthcare? Is there anything intrinsic to healthcare that limits the ability of a free market in that arena (morally, economically, etc.)?
>Is there anything intrinsic to healthcare that limits the ability of a free market
Oh, lots (the biggest fundamental failing being that a person will generally pay anything to not die or be in pain -- its why extortion and robbery can never lead to an efficient market). But examining costs doesn't mean we have to apply a market-based approach to controlling those costs.