Hospital Price Transparency Equals Accountability and Healthcare Price Wars. Getting Ready Starts Now - Update.
In August, I wrote about the coming hospital price wars as pricing transparency becomes a reality in, “ Here it Comes. The Healthcare Price Wars. Getting Ready Starts Now.” http://bit.ly/2YVZupj . We ll, we all knew that the lawsuits would be filed once the final regulations were put in place. Sure enough, in this past week, the suits were filed with a variety of reasons as to why accountability and transparency is a bad thing for hospitals and health systems. The image of Foghorn Leghorn is what hospital and hospital association public statements are looking like to the healthcare consumer. (Image courtesy of Looney Tunes and Merry Melodies.) The best reason I read was a hospital CEO stating that it would lead to higher prices. Why may you ask? Because when hospitals learn that others in their market are charging more than they are for some of the 200 common procedures, we will raise prices. Really? Stop and think about that one for a minute. Mr. or Ms. Hospital CEO, do...