Post by stcks on Jan 8, 2019 0:31:07 GMT
Hoping to give patients more accurate feedback about out-of-pocket costs, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) will now require hospitals to publish an online list of their charges to make that data easier for third parties to aggregate.
Despite good intentions, it’s likely that posting gross charges with no correlation to actual prices will confuse rather than inform consumers—but making the data public could motivate more providers to pursue real transparency efforts. Regardless, regulatory and consumer demand for rational, value-driven pricing will only grow, and business models built on cross subsidy, hospital-based billing, and market leverage are increasingly time-limited.
Growing regulatory and public scrutiny, coupled with rising consumer cost accountability, will increase demand for price transparency, placing pressure on providers to rationalize prices and lower costs as a consumer market continues to develop in healthcare.
Despite good intentions, it’s likely that posting gross charges with no correlation to actual prices will confuse rather than inform consumers—but making the data public could motivate more providers to pursue real transparency efforts. Regardless, regulatory and consumer demand for rational, value-driven pricing will only grow, and business models built on cross subsidy, hospital-based billing, and market leverage are increasingly time-limited.
Growing regulatory and public scrutiny, coupled with rising consumer cost accountability, will increase demand for price transparency, placing pressure on providers to rationalize prices and lower costs as a consumer market continues to develop in healthcare.