The thing you are describing is not the problem. In a normal healthcare system patients aren't expected to second-guess and interrogate doctors.
It's a bit like big distributed systems. Before it is built, you can design it the way it should be done. After it is built, you can completely rebuild a new one from scratch, and migrate over to it over time. But it is incredibly costly, difficult, and impractical to retrofit the existing system to the point that it operates in a completely new ideal way. You can patch it, but the more patches you add, the more of a Frankenstein's Monster it becomes, getting slower, uglier, costlier, and buggier.
As much as it would be great to just upgrade the system per-state, the medical industry (as I understand it) is basically a national monolith. What I'm proposing, unfortunately, is patches. But I don't see a way around it other than rebuilding from scratch.
Recently I went in for a consult to see about an operation. Before the consult, they asked for a pee sample. After the consult I got a bill, including the lab work. I never got the operation.
The doctor never needed that lab for the consult. I don't think they even performed it that day. They just threw an extra step into the procedure, knowing that most patients would just accept it rather than interrogate the doctor or nurse as to why this was needed. The nicest way to view this is the office is operating with unnecessary procedures that drive up cost. A less charitable interpretation is they're jacking up their fees.
The blame falls on me here because I put blind faith in the doctor's office and did not fully investigate everything being done and approve or deny things based on my questions.
Now, do I think I should have to do this? Hell no. I'm not qualified to speak to their procedures. But the only way I can see doctors change how they operate is to start demanding it, in addition to regulatory change to provide a fee breakdown before doing anything. I know this would probably only make everything more expensive and slower, but I don't have a better idea. Hopefully somebody else does.