GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — A new executive order aims to prepare you for what hospitals will charge for each procedure.
"This new transparency rule is part of a process to hopefully get Americans and Michiganders more involved in healthcare decision making and potentially make them better consumers," says Mark Fendrick, Director of the University of Michigan Center for Value Based Insurance.
Hospitals must now publish the cost of procedures up front so patients can see them before choosing where to go.
"I can have conversations now with my patients to help them first decide the services they need and then in these situations determine where they should get that care," explains Fendrick, who is also a practicing physician.
Fendrick says theoretically this could also lower prices.
"Most people believe that price transparency would add both competition and more consumerism," he says.
But also points out that the competition could go both ways.
"Sometimes when I drive to fill my gas tank in my car, I'll notice that when one of the gas stations raises their price four cents a gallon, the others follow suit," he says.
He hopes some parts of the order will be expanded upon in the near future. Currently, hospitals are only required to publish the total cost of the procedure, not what you will actually pay out of pocket under your insurance provider.
"Americans really don't care what their health care plans are paying the hospital," says Fendrick. "They care about what it costs them."
Hospitals like Spectrum Health and Mercy Health include the estimates for your out of pocket costs on their websites. However, Holland Hospital only posts on its website the cost the insurance company will pay.
In the end, Fendrick warns that while a lower cost may look attractive, it's the quality that matters.
"I certainly don't want to send my patients to low cost places that at worst will actually not do what they need to do and are actually going to harm them," he says.
Cost estimates can generally be found on hospital websites or by giving them a call.
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