Comments on: Price transparency will improve patient care

By: Mary Brighton, MS, RD

Mary Brighton, MS, RD — Wed, 14 Apr 2010 21:57:46 +0000

Dear Dr. Ramirez,
Thank you for your post which brought up valid points. What I personally see is that sometimes people will not buy medicine prescribed nor undergo necessary testing due to costs of these items. What we forget is that 1. some people do not realize that costs can be different depending on which pharmacy or testing center. 2. some people truely cannot afford these medicines or tests.
I think your website is valuable: setting up a list of places of lost cost services.
As health care professionals we need to be open enough to realize that people don’t always have the money or education to complete “what the doctor ordered.”
And, in the end…we will all pay for it, of course, the patient, their families, insurance companies, government etc..
Because when patients don’t take their blood pressure medicines, or don’t get that mammogram..stroke , cancer.
I should know, my dad didn’t take his blood pressure medicine. He did have the stroke. He is in the wheelchair for life..and looking at his bills the health insurance company covered? Way over a million dollars..But the cost of the pain to my family to see my dad suffer…that is without words.
Keep up your efforts!
Mary Brighton, MS, RD

By: Ron Hekier, MD

Ron Hekier, MD — Wed, 14 Apr 2010 21:42:35 +0000

On a related note, also needed is price transparency for physicians to see what insurance providers reimburse all MDs in the same specialty nationwide.
When I find out that insurance company X pays me 30% less for a procedure than a surgeon in another city I can choose whether or not to stay in network for that insurance provider.

By: jsmith

jsmith — Wed, 14 Apr 2010 02:37:07 +0000

Of course this whole issue of price transparency would go away if we had a rational HC system, single-payer with guaranteed basic HC for all. But who am I kidding? I forget what country we’re in for a minute.

By: Leslie Ramirez, MD

Leslie Ramirez, MD — Tue, 13 Apr 2010 22:16:32 +0000

To family practitioner, et al.

I didn’t mean to imply for a second that pricing transparency is the cure to our healthcare woes. But isn’t it remarkable how little transparency there is? What might happen if healthcare pricing was as transparent as say, airline tickets or books? Could it shift the healthcare industry’s ecomomics in the consumer’s favor- as happened with Orbitz and Amazon?

By: Martin Young

Martin Young — Tue, 13 Apr 2010 22:02:48 +0000

Information about cost of services is supposed to be part of fully informed consent.

Where I practice, this is a person’s constitutional right, and one could argue that failure to discuss cost is a violation of those rights.

In a litiginous society that is a dangerous position for a doctor to be in, even if the treatment was successful!

By: ninguem

ninguem — Tue, 13 Apr 2010 21:49:55 +0000

This gets so tiresome.

No, you don’t price shop for MI treatment. Your insurance does, it’s called a “network”.

One pharmacy charges $100 for amlodipine, a K-Mart pharmacy nearby charges $15, you don’t think the patient will make the right choice?

Problem all along has been that the patients don’t have this information. They didn’t KNOW there was a better price available. Thanks to organizations like LesliesList, now they will be able to find that info, at least in her area.

Yes, the patients DO shop price, they DO make the right decisions, and it is reflected in premium for the HDHP’s attached to HSA’s.

HSA’s have existed for five years now, they do have the data supporting that. Naturally, the Obama administration and this current Congress is doing everything they can to kill them off.

By: JustADoc

JustADoc — Tue, 13 Apr 2010 21:28:39 +0000

While many doctors would love to advertise our prices and compete based on price and quality and satisfaction, we are federally mandated to not do so. That’s right. It’s actually illegal for doctors to post their prices if they accept Medicare. Stupid beyond belief? Absolutely. But still true.

JustADoc

By: family practitioner

family practitioner — Tue, 13 Apr 2010 20:52:09 +0000

How in the world to you compare prices in the setting of an emergency?

I had an MI recently and did not exactly have the time to “shop around” for the best deal regarding my stent.

This transparency argument only goes so far.

By: Davis Liu, MD

Davis Liu, MD — Tue, 13 Apr 2010 20:44:49 +0000

I don’t think price transparency alone will lower costs. There is a lot of duplication, unnecessary testing which is difficult address and if eliminated would lower costs as well (in addition to having a more robust primary care workforce).

–
Davis Liu, MD
Author of Stay Healthy, Live Longer, Spend Wisely: Making Intelligent Choices in America’s Healthcare System
Website: http://www.davisliumd.com
Blog: http://www.davisliumd.blogspot.com
Twitter: davisliumd

By: Leon

Leon — Tue, 13 Apr 2010 18:20:38 +0000

I find posts like these contradictory to the belief that if patients were resonsible for the cost of their medical care, they would make better decisions.

Our Lady of the Resurrection Medical Center provides the cheapest mammograms because it is backed by Catholic charities. Those providers that charge more are just trying to make a living and perhaps don’t have access to donations.