The U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid released data Wednesday outlining the cost of operations at various hospitals. The CMS is on a mission to make health care “more affordable and accountable.” Therefore, in an effort to make the health care system more accountable, releasing data about the high prices for operations at hospitals across the country seems like a good idea.
However, there is a slight issue with the data posted Wednesday. It isn’t completely accurate, according to Businessweek.com.
The prices given by the report—such as a joint procedure that could cost $223,000 at a hospital in Monterey Park, California—were “chargemaster” rates that are actually the prices used to negotiate with health insurance companies. In comparison, they are like the manufacturer’s suggested retail price (MSRP) on a car or item in a department store. Usually the customer pays lower than the suggested prices.
Patients must compare prices that they would see on their bill and not the negotiating prices.
Representative Michael Burgess, R-TX, has proposed a bill that would force Medicaid plans to tell the public the “estimated out of pocket costs for health-care services.” However, this would not completely solve the accountability issue. Rich Umbdenstock, president and chief executive of the American Health Association (which backs the proposed bill), said “sharing exact information is challenging, because hospital care is individually tailored to each patient’s needs.”
Despite the concern stemming from this issue most people don’t personally look into prices for procedures. Health insurance companies usually take care of the shopping, so to speak.
“We’re talking about a pretty small number of people,” said Former Obama health official Sherry Glied. Glied is currently a health policy and management professor at Columbia University.
