We hope that today’s “IS IT TRUE” will provoke honest and open dialogue concerning issues that we, as responsible citizens of this community, need to address in a rational and responsible way?

HOSPITALS GUARD PRICES LIKE THE CIA GUARDS SECRETS

by Michael Shannon, January 3, 2019

Way back in 2017, before we were on the road to Nuremberg With Donald Trump, the Washington Post was outraged that hospitals were trying to make a profit. Like most stories involving reporters, economics and healthcare it was both wildly inaccurate and agenda-driven.

The story’s one useful service was it introduced the public to the slightly ominous term “chargemaster.” At first glance, chargemaster might be mistaken as the cause of the so-called epidemic of “mass incarceration,” a fiendish device district attorneys use to jail minorities captured during the government’s regular sweeps in low-income areas.

Even for those who haven’t been to jail, the term has unsavory associations, bringing to mind arrogant, price-gouging monopolies who look upon customers as rubes to be exploited. (Ticketmaster, come on down!)

In reality, the chargemaster has more to do with pricing than policing. Theoretically, it’s a complete listing of all the services and procedures a hospital provides patients, followed by the cost for each item.

What the consumer doesn’t know is the price listed after any procedure is as hyperbolic as an entree description on a Trump restaurant menu. The cost paid by Medicare or a health insurance company often bears little relation to what’s listed on the chargemaster. Just as the window sticker on a new car is only a starting place in the negotiation.

The U.S. healthcare market is currently designed to guarantee high prices, encourage waste and discourage price shopping. That’s because consumers can get a binding estimate on building a house, but they can’t get any kind of estimate on removing a gallbladder. Requiring hospitals to post the chargemaster on the web is supposed to give consumers this vital information, but in truth, all it will give most of them is a headache.

I predict it will be easier to read the privacy agreement for Facebook victims than it is to comprehend the chargemaster. If it were up to hospital administrators, consumers wouldn’t even be able to find out what it cost to park until they tried to exit the lot. Instead of a simple procedure equals cost equation, the consumer will no doubt have to assemble the procedure himself, which is just how the hospitals want to keep it.

Maryland made a tentative effort to lift the cost veil. The Maryland Health Care Commission has a website with the inane name of “Wear the Cost,” which sounds like the surgery bill will be tattooed on your backside. Instead, it compares turnkey prices for common procedures affecting patients who are either women, old or both.

Consumers who fit within that medical straightjacket can finally see what hip replacement, knee replacement, hysterectomy, and vaginal delivery prices are at 21 different hospitals. Unfortunately, hospital patients, like whiskey drinkers, tend to associate high cost with high quality. That’s not necessarily true, as the medical complication and readmission rates for the procedures at various hospitals demonstrates.

The feds need to build on the chargemaster unveiling by demanding all hospitals that accept federal money post binding prices on the web for the 25 most common surgical procedures, outpatient procedures, and tests. The charges must also match the best price offered to insurance companies.

That’s half the battle. The other half is getting the consumer to act on the information. In Maryland, Sinai Hospital charges $32,500 for a knee replacement, while UMD Medical Center at Easton charges over one,third less at $22,700, with fewer readmissions. If the patient has a $3,000 deductible and the co-pay is 10 percent, many would still choose the more expensive Sinai because it wipes out their deductible and all the rest that year’s healthcare is free!

Smart insurance companies would give the patient an incentive to be a smart shopper by sharing the savings. Instead of pocketing the $9,800 saved by paying for the knee replacement at UMD Easton, the insurance company could share by applying ten percent of the savings to the patient’s deductible for that year.

The patient would pay ten percent of the procedure ($2,270) and the insurance company would apply ten percent of the savings ($980) and their deductible for the year would be satisfied. To ensure this wasn’t a one-time-only cost-conscious decision by the consumer, the insurer could continue to apply ten percent of procedure savings to future deductibles. This is good for the company because it reduces customer churn by giving the patient a reason not to change policies, and the customer saves money on future deductibles.

That’s an ideal situation. Unfortunately, what we have is confusion master, and that’s probably where the feds will call it quits.

IL for www.Theindianalawyer.com

The previous areas that were under the neighborhood association included Pollack, Boeke, Vann and Covert. Saturday, excitement for the expansion was felt at a ribbon cutting ceremony.

” Its gonna be great for our community, this is our tenth year and we decided it was time to grow and so we’re gonna serve more and more people and get more and more people involved, that’s what this is about,” said Southeast Side Neighborhood Association President Thomas Littlepage .”

The expansion has grown the association from about 500 homes to around 900.

It now has two churches: Fairlawn United Methodist Church and Souls Harbor Baptist Church. A school, Fairlawn Elementary is also a part of the association. City Councilwoman Missy Mosby who lives in the area says adding the additional homes to the Southeast Side Neighborhood Association will help strengthen the community and bring people together.

” That just keeps our neighborhoods safer because we have our monthly meetings, we talk to the police we get the crime reports and we all meet each other and we kind of know who is suppose to be in the area and who’s not,” said City Councilwoman Missy Mosby.

Those in the community share Mosby’s outlook and look forward to being updated on events that may take place in the association.

” It would be nice if people would give out newsletters about what’s going on in the neighborhood but it seems to be a good idea,” said Resident Elizabeth Mabrey.