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Idea to send: |
| Topic | Greater Hospital Pricing Transparency |
| Content | Every other industry in the world has been able to figure out how to charge and advertise a price for their product and/or service. The health care industry is the only one that has not achieved such a feat. In order to have responsible consumers, they must be able to figure out what is the true cost of a surgery or procedure. One hospital in Tulsa may charge $300 dollars for a procedure and another hospital might charge $1000 dollars for the exact same procedure. There is just no consistency, and subsequently no rhyme or reason for the inconsistency.
Former Speaker Newt Gingrich, who founded the Center for Health Transformation, was quoted as saying, "You need an intelligent health system. An intelligent health system means you discover early what your health needs are, you get access to the best practices, you know which hospitals and which doctors deliver good care, you have ways of reinforcing your habits, and it's all handled both financially and in health information with the greatest transparency and the least cost."
An intelligent health system utilizes fair and consistent pricing for its procedures.
Our state ought to encourage hospitals to start moving in this direction. Perhaps the State Health Department could partner with the Oklahoma Hospital Association to develop a small pilot program with the future goal of rolling it our statewide. |
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