PRA Appears in Pittsburgh Tribune-Review and on Pittsburgh Radio Discussing Price Transparency
PatientRightsAdvocate.org has identified St. Clair Hospital in Pittsburgh as one of the nation’s best hospitals at complying with the price transparency rule that took effect at the beginning of the year. Cynthia A. Fisher, PRA founder and chair, has an op-ed in the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review highlighting St. Clair as an exception to American hospitals’ widespread noncompliance with the rule. She argues that the hospital price disclosures that do exist reinforce the need for broad and robust price transparency:
Hospital price disclosures that do exist, including those from the most compliant hospitals, demonstrate once again why real prices are needed now. They reveal widespread price gouging and price discrepancies for the same services at the same locations — market failures that widespread price transparency can fix.
A study published last month by the Health Care Cost Insitute examines the prices at Sutter Health, Northern California’s largest hospital chain. Prices for some knee X-rays there vary by eight times, from $77 to $616, depending on the hospital and payer. For lower joint replacements, prices differ by $55,000. Even at the same hospital, GI biopsies vary by more than five times, from $1,800 to $9,500. The Wall Street Journal reports that the price of a C-section at one Sutter Health hospital varies by as much as 10 times ($6,241 to $60,584). At another Sutter location, the price for a complex cardiac procedure varies from $89,752 to $515,697.
When consumers can see prices and potential savings, they won’t tolerate being price gouged. They’ll have the knowledge needed to stand their ground. Shoppers at the grocery store won’t accept being charged 10 times more for a gallon of milk than the person ahead of them in line. Neither will health care consumers when they can access real prices.
Read the full op-ed in the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review HERE.
Cynthia then appeared on the Robert Mangino Show in Pittsburgh to discuss the op-ed and explain how healthcare price transparency can revolutionize American healthcare. Listen HERE or embedded below.
Photo credit: St. Clair Hospital