Today’s healthcare consumers have an increasing thirst for information that will empower them to make informed decisions about their care. The industry is in the midst of a transformation to meet the needs and expectations of today’s technologically savvy shoppers and through that process, a key obstacle has emerged: the unpredictable variation in costs of medical services and procedures and an accompanying lack of transparency.
This issue has obvious financial consequences for individuals and employers, as well as serious implications for the sustainability of the U.S. healthcare system. To help understand the depth of the issue, the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association and Blue Health Intelligence joined together to examine cost variation in one area of care: knee and hip replacement procedures.
The findings from this collaboration are contained in the first Blue Cross Blue Shield, The Health of America Report, “A Study of Cost Variations for Knee and Hip Replacement Surgeries in the U.S.” The study, which is based on independent Blue Cross and Blue Shield companies’ claims data*, revealed the cost of those procedures varies widely in markets across the country, with extreme variations emerging even within the same market. In fact, prices for identical procedures can quadruple in cost depending on which hospital a patient chooses.
Read the full article here.
Contact Steven G. Cosby, MHSA with questions or to request more information and to schedule a healthcare plan evaluation, savings analysis or group plan solution for your company.
