Hospitals Must Now Post Prices. But It May Take a Brain Surgeon to Decipher Them

Re:Hospitals Must Now Post Prices. But It May Take a Brain S... by wjossey on Sunday January 13, 2019 @11:24PM (#18900628)

The opportunity is likely more B2B than B2C, where insurers are more apt to negotiate down prices if they see they are "overpaying" based on comps.

GoodRx already does this somewhat with prescription medication, by getting pricing data on prescriptions from local pharmacies.

Perhaps, based on the GoodRx model, the opportunity is to improve price pressure on recurring procedures for patients who require ongoing dialysis treatment, dermatology care, physical therapy, etc. For emergency based care in hospitals, I still don't think it's a major net-win for consumers, as you don't care enough to ask about price when your leg is broken.

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Re:Hospitals Must Now Post Prices. But It May Take a Brain S... by elyobo on Monday January 14, 2019 @04:41AM (#18901856)

As a non American, based on what I've heard of the US system, I would absolutely ask about price for any medical treatment in the US if I was still physically capable of asking.

Haven't broken a leg, so can't be sure whether I'd be functional - probably depends on how bad the break is :D

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Re:Hospitals Must Now Post Prices. But It May Take a Brain S... by ceejayoz on Monday January 14, 2019 @08:38AM (#18902814)

You can try, but the answer is likely to be “we don’t know, ask the billing department afterwards”.

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Re:Hospitals Must Now Post Prices. But It May Take a Brain S... by elyobo on Wednesday January 16, 2019 @02:01AM (#18918828)

Ha, yeah, I can imagine :-/

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Re:Hospitals Must Now Post Prices. But It May Take a Brain S... by tapland on Monday January 14, 2019 @06:45AM (#18902317)

Looking at comments from last week here on HN it seems to be _very_ common that the prices quoted are a fraction of what you then end up getting billed.

How that can be legal, I don't know.

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Re:Hospitals Must Now Post Prices. But It May Take a Brain S... by JumpCrisscross on Monday January 14, 2019 @02:48AM (#18901388)

> For emergency based care in hospitals, I still don't think it's a major net-win for consumers, as you don't care enough to ask about price when your leg is broken

If I know in advance Hospital A is cheaper than and of the same quality as Hospital B, that could affect my decision around where to go for something like a broken bone. (Urgent, but not critical.)

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Re:Hospitals Must Now Post Prices. But It May Take a Brain S... by keshwa01 on Monday January 14, 2019 @01:39AM (#18901132)

who would you sell to - provider or payer? Payers should already be comparing across the providers they service. Providers would definitely find value - the challenge here is comparison based on list price are not inherently useful, yet obtaining negotiated prices would be difficult. I'm all ears for partnering if someone can get access to negotiated prices, even for a specific region.

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Re:Hospitals Must Now Post Prices. But It May Take a Brain S... by sjg007 on Monday January 14, 2019 @08:59AM (#18902937)

Insurers already do this.

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