[HN Gopher] Hospitals Have Started Posting Their Prices Online. ...
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Hospitals Have Started Posting Their Prices Online. Here's What
They Reveal
Author : Black101
Score : 41 points
Date : 2021-07-02 10:16 UTC (12 hours ago)
(HTM) web link (www.npr.org)
(TXT) w3m dump (www.npr.org)
| ipspam wrote:
| The real question is, how much does this policy cause prices to
| fall?
|
| That's what Trump promised, to lower the cost of healthcare, and
| this was one of the key pieces.
| huitzitziltzin wrote:
| Health economist here. I'm not convinced it will cause prices
| to decline at all. Under some circumstances it could cause them
| to rise ("insurer X gets how much? We want the same." -insurer
| Y). It's going to depend on the distribution of bargaining and
| market power among hospitals (which have aggregated into
| powerful systems) and insurers (which don't seem to get all
| that much pushback about prices from the large firms they act
| for).
|
| I could be wrong but I expect the effect to at best very small.
| More likely around zero. Worst case it raises prices.
|
| Though I do like the policy myself bc I am interested in these
| prices for research purposes.
| Hydraulix989 wrote:
| Perhaps it will help with the uninsured by giving them
| negotiation power and the ability to compare prices between
| hopsitals, as the article mentions. Insurance companies, on the
| other hand, won't change their premiums -- but is healthcare
| expensive for someone with insurance?
| patricklorio wrote:
| I am so happy this is happening. Though the fine for
| noncompliance seems laughable at $300/day.
| jazzyjackson wrote:
| It's certainly not punitive but I can imagine at some point an
| administrator will notice a $9,000 / month expense and wonder
| if they should be posting prices.
| jasonhansel wrote:
| The cost associated with having patients potentially switch
| to a cheaper hospital could be >$9000/month, at least if the
| data becomes more accessible. For hospitals that charge
| exorbitantly high rates, it might actually be worth it to pay
| the fine.
| Pick-A-Hill2019 wrote:
| Alternate link for those hitting NPR's Cookie Wall
|
| https://text.npr.org/1012317032
|
| (for some reason the usual trick of substituting the www with
| text didn't work and kept on redirecting to their cookie pop-up)
| ilaksh wrote:
| This is a start.
|
| It should be possible to eventually get a unified clean data
| format and up-to-date prices with some kind of mandated
| networking protocol or URL or API or something. Pick or defin
| some kind of medical coding standard.
|
| Then there will need to be enforcement and real penalties for
| those not complying.
|
| If they can somehow get to that point, it will make a big
| difference.
|
| And I believe that enforcing data standards and interoperability
| should be one of the primary functions of governments or other
| similar organizations.
|
| Also, interested to see how this stuff intersects with the new
| surprise medical costs rules.
| [deleted]
| z3ugma wrote:
| The article references the MyChart Estimates feature which I
| would recommend, having worked closely with it in the past.
|
| You're getting an actual price from the hospital's billing system
| directly, from an on-prem website run by the hospital and not the
| game of telephone or billing dept > website > scraper > 3rd party
| Hydraulix989 wrote:
| Thanks. Is it true that it is missing basic procedures like
| "colonoscopy", as the article implies?
| throwawaysea wrote:
| The Trump administration's price transparency rule seems like a
| good start but this article makes it seem like compliance is
| inconsistent and typically the bare legal minimum (rather than
| meeting the intentions of the law). In reality pricing should be
| up-front, before you visit a provider, with clarity on exactly
| what services are being provided, what the cost of those services
| will be, and what the cost is elsewhere in the area. If
| additional services could be necessary based on diagnosis, the
| highest likelihood "add ons" should also be advertised up-front
| similarly. When care is provided in the moment, the same should
| apply. The prices also need to fit some standard that is
| reasonably easy to interpret, unlike the mess of codes that exist
| today, resulting in dubious insurance claims.
|
| I know that's a lot and I'm sure those suggestions could use some
| refinement - but my worry is that the increased price
| transparency we're getting now is not something customers can put
| to use in practice. That is, it may have no effect on improving
| competition in healthcare. Lastly, any new rules we put into
| place need to have real consequences attached - like fines and
| jail time that would serve as actual deterrents to non-
| compliance.
| peter303 wrote:
| This might help with [semi]elective procedures. But not with
| emergencies. For the latter the best I hope for is an ER on my
| insurance list.
| huitzitziltzin wrote:
| You should read HHS's recently issued rule on exactly that
| issue for some good news - though I am not exactly clear what
| it will mean in practice:
|
| https://www.hhs.gov/about/news/2021/07/01/hhs-announces-rule...
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(page generated 2021-07-02 23:02 UTC)