Plastic Surgeons Call for Greater Health Care Pricing Transparency
Plastic surgeons are calling for better price transparency saying that most patients are “price unaware” when they are seeking non-emergency health care.
Leading surgeons are complaining that hospitals don’t provide good pricing information to patients. At present it is thought that hospitals tend to take one of two approaches, neither of which is particularly helpful to patients. Hospitals are either declining to discuss pricing over the phone and instead tell patients to make an appointment or refer them to a website or they are spending too much time discussing pricing and never hear from the patient again.
One option that has been put forward to help is the development of apps to help patients gather information on plastic surgery and the associated costs the app can also be expanded into a website widget so that it is not limited to smartphones and tablets.
There is already a version of this available known as “Build My Bod” which is used by a number of doctors in Louisiana to help patients make health care spending decisions.
The app gives patients the chance to shop from a number of procedures with the bundled pricing components very clearly listed. For example, a joint replacement price would include the surgeon fee, anesthesia fee, hospital charge and rehabilitation costs.
It has also been found that those who use the app or website are 41% more likely to follow-up by booking a procedure.
According to the Affordable Care Act hospitals need to provide patients with pricing information. However, this regulatory element of the ACA has been slow going. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services released proposed rules in 2014 and both the American Medical Society and the American Hospital Association support the concept of price transparency on their websites. However, in reality many hospitals are listing charges rather than the actual prices that a patient might pay which is unhelpful when patients are trying to make informed decisions.