When you go to a restaurant, you know exactly what you’ll pay for the different menu items. Want to know the price of a car on the lot? Check the sticker on the car window. A new suit or a sofa? Check the attached price tag. Prices for just about anything you want to purchase are on the item or easy to find online. It’s easy to compare similar items, or even the same item at different stores.
One thing that you have to purchase doesn’t come with a price tag or online comparison. When you have to have surgery or some medical tests, it’s your doctor or insurance company who makes the decision as to what types of services you need and what doctors or hospital you use. There is no menu or price list for a gall bladder operation or knee replacement. Healthcare is the one product or service people regularly purchase without even a vague idea of the price. It isn’t until you’re leaving the hospital or doctor’s office to pay the bill that you find out just how much you’ve spent.
One hospital in Oklahoma is changing all that. Like an auto parts store or furniture warehouse, they post prices for medical procedures for all to see, up front, no secrecy. A news report from KFOR-TV, Oklahoma City, “Oklahoma Hospital posts surgery prices online: Creates Bidding War,” told the story of how one hospital broke the silence and made the cost of healthcare transparent. The Surgery Center of Oklahoma opened its doors fifteen years ago, and started posting their prices four years ago.
When they started, they thought that their price would be about 50 percent lower than other hospitals in the area. They were shocked to find they were one-sixth to one-eighth the cost of their competitors. And these prices are guaranteed. All inclusive. Like a vacation resort in the Bahamas, one price gets you all the services you need for your stay.
Hospitals have to bring in patients in order to make money and keep the doors open. The open pricing started a bidding war, since so many patients liked the lower prices. For example, an uninsured patient from California had a torn knee cap. The cost of the surgery in his home state would have cost $30,000. At the Surgery Center of Oklahoma, the cost was just $5,700, about one-fifth of the cost back home. It was worth the plane trip to Oklahoma to get the cheaper price.
Other Oklahoma hospitals are joining in, which is good for the locals and those who choose to travel to Oklahoma for the reduced rates. They accept private insurance, which is good for the insurance companies who like holding down costs. Oklahoma Surgery Center doesn’t accept Medicare or Medicaid.
Open pricing for medical procedures can open up a new phase for healthcare, where patients can make better choices based on the level of care, a hospital’s reputation, doctor confidence and expertise and price. Keeping costs down helps both patients and hospitals. It also can reduce the stress and anxiety patients face as they return to their lives and have to deal with recovery and paying the hospital and doctor bills.
Photo Courtesy of FreeDigitalPhotos.net
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