The Importance of Price Transparency in Healthcare

Effective programs and service delivery is possible through price transparency Being transparent about prices improves the experience of patients in the healthcare system Majority of patients will be more than willing to pay as long as they get informed earlier on the amount expexted This will lead to reduction of the amount that remains uncompensated Patients need to be well informed on the amount to pay and by what time This will help patients make an informed decision when choosing healthcare providers.

There is a lot of effort from insurance companies and healthcare providers to improve price transparency. When there is price transparency, there will delivery of quality services. The cost of care can be reduced by providing sufficient information regarding pricing. The push for price transparency has been going on for many years now. Consumers are usually left in the dark about what they are expected to pay after going for in-patient services Price transparency gives patients an opportunity to compare healthcare systems and choose the best and enable healthcare providers to make cost conscious decisions

The health care system cannot be functional if people cannot compare the
pricing with other services as they don’t know the exact value of the purchase There are changes that can be seen especially with the pressure mounted on providers, insurers and drug makers to provide pricing and better drugs Healthcare spending is growing above the rate of inflation and patients are burdened with the rising demand to shop for healthcare services There are alternative payment methods that require providers to get information from doctors on what the cost of ordering certain tests

If providers don’t know the standard price of treatment, it can be difficult to come up with an accurate figure. The cost of treatment varies in thousands of dollars in healthcare facilities that are in the same neighborhood let alone different countries It is not uncommon for hospital to charge more than what is provided by insurance companies. This is why price transparency is important to avoid running into unwanted cost that could be easily avoided

Price transparency will give patients an opportunity to choose healthcare facilities that they can afford There are times that physicians don’t even know the cost of services they provide.

In addition, it gets complicated when the patients don’t even know the amount covered by the insurance companies. The charges can change drastically if a patient goes for treatment and another complication arises in the process This means that there needs to be coordination between health planners and providers to get an estimate on the prices Major healthcare plan use a cost estimator tool to give patients a cost estimate.