Consumers and Regulators Are Saying No to Sticker Shock
No one likes sticker shock. Whether it’s a trip to the supermarket, picking up some home goods, or buying a car, prices matter. It’s bad enough when prices are high, but when customers are charged more than they expect — whether through inaccurate labeling, hidden fees, or deceptive business practices — they quickly express their dissatisfaction by complaints or simply taking their business elsewhere.
The good news is that the healthcare industry, like many others, has been moving toward greater price transparency. Giving patients more information about what they are likely to pay is a major step toward controlling healthcare costs and helping restore patients to their rightful place as the ones who are calling the shots.
For example, beginning on January 1, 2021, federal regulations have required that hospitals publish clear lists of the costs for some 300 common procedures, in formats that the public can easily access and understand.
Compliance with those rules remains a major challenge even after more than four years, but there is growing awareness among healthcare consumers that they can and should insist upon more information when seeking care.
Empowering Patients to Expect and See Greater Transparency
Indeed, price transparency in healthcare is no longer a “nice to have” — it’s something that patients now expect, making it an essential part of any healthcare organization’s business model.
The average healthcare consumer may not be able to do much about copayments, premiums, or the cost of care itself, but they can gain access to powerful digital tools — whether on their healthcare provider’s website or their own smartphone — that let them know what they can expect to pay and how they might make a smarter choice for a given visit type, procedure, surgery, or prescription medication.
How healow Price Transparency Helps
Our healow Price Transparency solution promotes better-informed healthcare consumers, who can know exactly how much they’ll be paying before they step into the doctor’s office.
- Medical practices can add a widget to their website to help end surprise bills for patients. By using a search box, patients can type in the procedure they are having, along with their location, which will generate a list of practices in their area that offer that procedure and at what cost.
- Patients can compare hospitals’ mortality rates for a given procedure to see how the facility they are considering compares with national averages or the rates at other nearby facilities in their area.
- When a patient clicks on a given hospital option, the healow Price Transparency tool displays insurance-specific information that lets them understand what they will pay out of pocket for a given procedure.
- healow Prime+ extends transparency to prescription medication costs, giving consumers an easy way to compare what they would pay for a given medication at their regular pharmacy with prices at other pharmacies in their area, allowing them to make a more informed decision.
Why Transparency Matters to Providers and Practices
The advantages of price transparency for consumers are clear and can be felt immediately in lower costs for visits, procedures, and medications. Price transparency is also good for medical providers and practices.
- Consumers who are confident about what their medical costs will be for a given medical encounter are more likely to keep their appointments and seek the treatments they need. That means higher appointment conversion rates for practices, keeping schedules full, and helping sustain revenue for the organization.
- Clear, consistent, and open communication about healthcare costs promotes better-informed and satisfied patients, which helps build strong, long-lasting relationships between patients and their medical providers. And satisfied patients are more likely to recommend their doctors and specialists to others.
A reduction in confusion about costs can mean smoother billing and financial operations for practices, including less time spent investigating and adjudicating patient complaints about medical bills.
To learn more about healow Price Transparency & healow Prime+, schedule a demo here.