How Will Price Transparency Impact Anesthesia Practices?
How Will Price Transparency Impact Anesthesia Practices?
Summary: The movement toward increased healthcare price transparency is likely here to stay. Anesthesia groups need to be aware that patients are going to have increasing access to information about the costs of procedures, and that this information could conceivably influence activity levels and patterns at their facilities.
In a previous eAlert, we noted that the demand for price transparency was likely to rise as patients continued assuming responsibility for larger portions of their healthcare costs, and that anesthesia practices should prepare by understanding the costs of their services and the role of quality and quality metrics in this equation (see "Anesthesia Practices Should Think About Price Transparency," May 23, 2016).
The federal government appears determined to move healthcare in the direction of price transparency and has heightened its push, with the current administration naming it a major healthcare priority.
Though consensus is still being formed on how to achieve price transparency and the extent to which it can actually benefit patients, transparency has become a key player in the shift toward healthcare "consumerism" spurred by the rapid growth of high-deductible health plans and other trends.
Transparency proponents, including the federal government, argue that, as patients shoulder more of their healthcare costs, they should be able to "shop" for healthcare services much as they do now for retail goods and other services, and that this "comparison shopping" will help patients make better decisions and drive down costs.
"We must do something about rising cost, and a key pillar is to empower patients with the information they need to drive cost and quality by making our health care system evolve to one that competes for patients," Seema Verma, administrator for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) said in a recent blog post.
CMS already requires hospitals to either make publicly available a list of their standard charges, or their policies for allowing the public to view a list of those charges upon request. However, updates to the final rule for the Inpatient Prospective Payment System and Long-Term Care Hospital Prospective Payment System specifically require hospitals to post this information online beginning January 1, 2019 and to update it at least annually.
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