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Mondays with Your MD: Transparent Pricing is your Right

Your Rights

We all know that transparent pricing in health care services is rare. It can be different now.

In the traditional health care system, patients often asked me why they had received outrageous bills for their medical care and what they could do about it. I got tired of watching patients struggle with medical bills. I felt powerless in my ability to deliver the health care my patients deserved. Even worse, I knew that the financial health of my patients directly affected their physical and emotional health.

Did you know that medical bills are the most common cause for U.S. bankruptcies? Common sense would dictate that transparent pricing is an integral part of excellent health care.

Most hospitals are still NOT compliant with posting prices to their website even though it has been a law since Jan 1,2021! It is now your right to know the financial implications of the care that you receive.

Excellent health care does not have to be expensive.

There are numerous services that allow you to compare the price of health care. One of my favorite sites is “turquoise.health” where the cost of local medical procedures/tests can be compared.

I believe patients should always know how much a service will cost be before they receive care.

 

An Example…

At Roots Health DPC, we negotiate lab costs directly with the laboratory and obtain lab studies at significantly discounted prices which are listed on our website. Shortly after we opened our doors we charged one of our first patients $32.45 for a panel of standard labs. When that patient received another bill for $927.86 from the lab she contacted the lab directly and was offered a “self-pay” discount of $250.00. Since the bill was an error, ultimately she did not incur a charge at all. The value of this experience was priceless for my patient and myself as we realized just how wildly variable pricing can be, and just how little transparency exists.

No one deserves to be saddled with an insurmountable pile of medical bills.

All of us deserve transparent pricing and, in fact, it is our right.

 
2022-05-09T12:04:16+00:00May 7th, 2022|Copays, Deductibles, Direct Primary Care, Membership, Prescription Costs|

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