How To Navigate The New World of Health Care Cost Transparency

Daniel Weinbach, president and CEO of Weinbach Group; Richard Klass, co-founder of KCI Partners; and Justin Irizarry, co-founder and CFO of OrthoNOW

You probably wouldn’t buy an appliance or book a cruise without knowing what it will cost. Yet historically, health care systems have expected patients to undergo various diagnostic tests, procedures, and treatments without any idea of what they will be charged. But times are changing quickly.

While most patients are not yet comparison-shopping based on cost, this is expected to change in the future. As a result, not sharing your pricing upfront could end up costing you much.

You probably wouldn’t buy an appliance or book a cruise without knowing what it will cost. Yet historically, health care systems have expected patients to undergo various diagnostic tests, procedures, and treatments without any idea of what they will be charged. But times are changing quickly.

As consumers become responsible for increasingly larger portions of their health care costs, some are reducing their consumption of medical services in an effort to contain the financial impact. While most consumers are not yet comparison-shopping based on cost, this is expected to continue to evolve. This could mean more will be willing to move their business to health systems that disclose what various services cost.

Not sharing your pricing upfront could end up costing you much. And yet giving into pressure to compete by slashing prices and undercutting competitors is similarly a strategy that can backfire.

Read our new article to learn why and get the strategic takeaways from a panel presentation on transparency and health care consumerism:

It’s a Buyer’s Market: What Health Systems Should Know About Cost Transparency

Best regards,
Matt Humphrey
President