Skip to content
  • About
  • Contact
  • Contribute
  • Book
  • Careers
  • Podcast
  • Recommended
  • Speaking
  • All
  • Physician
  • Practice
  • Policy
  • Finance
  • Conditions
  • .edu
  • Patient
  • Meds
  • Tech
  • Social
  • Video
    • All
    • Physician
    • Practice
    • Policy
    • Finance
    • Conditions
    • .edu
    • Patient
    • Meds
    • Tech
    • Social
    • Video
    • About
    • Contact
    • Contribute
    • Book
    • Careers
    • Podcast
    • Recommended
    • Speaking

Why doctors need to care about price transparency

Kathy Nieder, MD
Policy
November 24, 2012
Share
Tweet
Share

As healthcare costs become a bigger and bigger chuck of our Gross Domestic Product (GDP), price transparency is a subject that insurance companies and patients are talking about. The idea of knowing how much something costs, be it canned black beans in the grocery store or replacing the leaking faucet in your kitchen, seems obvious but it will be an uphill battle to enact change within the healthcare system.

The concept seems simple–make prices accessible to the people who are paying them just like in any other service industry. While healthcare is more complex than a plumbing job, there are still some things that should be easy to price–cataract extraction, blood pressure check, yearly physical, uncomplicated appendectomy. The hidden prices and unknowns in medicine can quickly add up. It is no wonder that  patients are angry, frustrated and incredulous.

Case in point, my mother called yesterday to ask why she was not told that going to a cardiologist in our system for a test was “outpatient treatment” in a hospital. She had no idea that was the case until the  EOB (Explanation of Benefits) came from her insurance company with a charge specifically associated with that. The answer is that the cardiologists are employees of the hospital so there is an additional fee tacked on to her bill.

Even though her visit appeared to be in a doctor’s office, it is now an extension of the hospital. As such they tack on a “facility fee” that, while technically allowable, I find distasteful and misleading, even as it is done by my own healthcare system. Talk about a lack of transparency! My mother had no clue and at 84, even if someone did explain it to her, I doubt she understood what they were talking about. Not until she got the EOB from her insurance company did she start to question.

A patient with congenital heart disease told me this week she was putting off getting an imaging study on her heart because she can’t afford the $1000 hospital fee that her now-hospital-employed physician would be adding to her bill. One thousand EXTRA billed dollars solely for that reason? How do hospitals justify this? They state that patients are paying for the “added services” that being a hospital-associated facility affords them, like infection control and patient safety. I doubt anyone thinks paying four times what the doctor charges for a facility fee is justified by patient safety.

It’s encouraging to see patients becoming more involved in this process–pushing for price transparency. Doctors are also beginning to understand that we can no longer hold ourselves above the fray, believing that caring for the patient in the best manner possible without knowing the economic burden that care incurs to the patient or family is not our concern. Best care does include knowing costs. In the meantime, my patient who needs the echocardiogram waits, and hopes for the best.

Kathy Nieder is a family physician who blogs at Family Practice 2.0.

Prev

Society must come to a conclusion on how important human suffering is

November 23, 2012 Kevin 2
…
Next

What Groupon has to do with severe chest pain

November 24, 2012 Kevin 0
…

Tagged as: Cardiology, Primary Care

Post navigation

< Previous Post
Society must come to a conclusion on how important human suffering is
Next Post >
What Groupon has to do with severe chest pain

ADVERTISEMENT

More by Kathy Nieder, MD

  • a desk with keyboard and ipad with the kevinmd logo

    Forms do not keep patients out of hospitals

    Kathy Nieder, MD
  • a desk with keyboard and ipad with the kevinmd logo

    How social media recharged this physician

    Kathy Nieder, MD
  • a desk with keyboard and ipad with the kevinmd logo

    Saying goodbye: Seeing a patient just admitted to hospice care

    Kathy Nieder, MD

More in Policy

  • Unused IV catheters cost U.S. hospitals billions

    Piyush Pillarisetti
  • Why your health care dashboard isn’t working and how to fix it

    Dave Cummings, RN
  • Nuclear verdicts and rising costs: How inflation is reshaping medical malpractice claims

    Robert E. White, Jr. & The Doctors Company
  • How new loan caps could destroy diversity in medical education

    Caleb Andrus-Gazyeva
  • Why transplant equity requires more than access

    Zamra Amjid, DHSc, MHA
  • Ideology, not evidence, fuels the anti-trans agenda

    Andie Riffer, PhD and Shawn E. Parra, LCSW, MSW
  • Most Popular

  • Past Week

    • The human case for preserving the nipple after mastectomy

      Thomas Amburn, MD | Conditions
    • Nuclear verdicts and rising costs: How inflation is reshaping medical malpractice claims

      Robert E. White, Jr. & The Doctors Company | Policy
    • How new loan caps could destroy diversity in medical education

      Caleb Andrus-Gazyeva | Policy
    • IMGs are the future of U.S. primary care

      Adam Brandon Bondoc, MD | Physician
    • The myth of biohacking your way past death

      Larry Kaskel, MD | Conditions
    • Why doctors struggle with family caregiving and how to find grace [PODCAST]

      The Podcast by KevinMD | Podcast
  • Past 6 Months

    • Health equity in Inland Southern California requires urgent action

      Vishruth Nagam | Policy
    • How restrictive opioid policies worsen the crisis

      Kayvan Haddadan, MD | Physician
    • Why primary care needs better dermatology training

      Alex Siauw | Conditions
    • Why pain doctors face unfair scrutiny and harsh penalties in California

      Kayvan Haddadan, MD | Physician
    • How a doctor defied a hurricane to save a life

      Dharam Persaud-Sharma, MD, PhD | Physician
    • What street medicine taught me about healing

      Alina Kang | Education
  • Recent Posts

    • The myth of biohacking your way past death

      Larry Kaskel, MD | Conditions
    • How trust and communication power successful dyad leadership in health care [PODCAST]

      The Podcast by KevinMD | Podcast
    • Why Hollywood’s allergy jokes are dangerous

      Lianne Mandelbaum, PT | Conditions
    • How I learned to love my unique name as a doctor

      Zoran Naumovski, MD | Physician
    • My first week on night float as a medical student

      Amish Jain | Education
    • What Beauty and the Beast taught me about risk

      Jayson Greenberg, MD | Physician

Subscribe to KevinMD and never miss a story!

Get free updates delivered free to your inbox.


Find jobs at
Careers by KevinMD.com

Search thousands of physician, PA, NP, and CRNA jobs now.

Learn more

View 13 Comments >

Founded in 2004 by Kevin Pho, MD, KevinMD.com is the web’s leading platform where physicians, advanced practitioners, nurses, medical students, and patients share their insight and tell their stories.

Social

  • Like on Facebook
  • Follow on Twitter
  • Connect on Linkedin
  • Subscribe on Youtube
  • Instagram

ADVERTISEMENT

ADVERTISEMENT

  • Most Popular

  • Past Week

    • The human case for preserving the nipple after mastectomy

      Thomas Amburn, MD | Conditions
    • Nuclear verdicts and rising costs: How inflation is reshaping medical malpractice claims

      Robert E. White, Jr. & The Doctors Company | Policy
    • How new loan caps could destroy diversity in medical education

      Caleb Andrus-Gazyeva | Policy
    • IMGs are the future of U.S. primary care

      Adam Brandon Bondoc, MD | Physician
    • The myth of biohacking your way past death

      Larry Kaskel, MD | Conditions
    • Why doctors struggle with family caregiving and how to find grace [PODCAST]

      The Podcast by KevinMD | Podcast
  • Past 6 Months

    • Health equity in Inland Southern California requires urgent action

      Vishruth Nagam | Policy
    • How restrictive opioid policies worsen the crisis

      Kayvan Haddadan, MD | Physician
    • Why primary care needs better dermatology training

      Alex Siauw | Conditions
    • Why pain doctors face unfair scrutiny and harsh penalties in California

      Kayvan Haddadan, MD | Physician
    • How a doctor defied a hurricane to save a life

      Dharam Persaud-Sharma, MD, PhD | Physician
    • What street medicine taught me about healing

      Alina Kang | Education
  • Recent Posts

    • The myth of biohacking your way past death

      Larry Kaskel, MD | Conditions
    • How trust and communication power successful dyad leadership in health care [PODCAST]

      The Podcast by KevinMD | Podcast
    • Why Hollywood’s allergy jokes are dangerous

      Lianne Mandelbaum, PT | Conditions
    • How I learned to love my unique name as a doctor

      Zoran Naumovski, MD | Physician
    • My first week on night float as a medical student

      Amish Jain | Education
    • What Beauty and the Beast taught me about risk

      Jayson Greenberg, MD | Physician

MedPage Today Professional

An Everyday Health Property Medpage Today
  • Terms of Use | Disclaimer
  • Privacy Policy
  • DMCA Policy
All Content © KevinMD, LLC
Site by Outthink Group

Why doctors need to care about price transparency
13 comments

Comments are moderated before they are published. Please read the comment policy.

Loading Comments...