Alliance Community Hospital in Ohio has publicly done what most marketers think about secretly but never do. They have outrightly asked their community members to share information on the prices and charges that they have encountered as patients at their competitors. And they have offered a bribe, I mean payment, of $100 per insurance company information provided up to $1,000.
It wants patients to hand over their bills and corresponding ''explanation of benefits,"statements from insurance companies that detail how much hospitals charge for procedures and treatments, as well as how much insurers and consumers actually end up paying.
The hospital CEO said it is part of the hospital's attempt to provide consumers with more information about the true cost of medical services and plans to share the information eventually on a new Web site. As on insurer noted "looking through EOBs from unrelated facilities poses issues of data collection, interpretation and validity. Moreover, there may be numerous legal issues inherent in such an effort.''
The hospital is seeking patient insurance statements from 2007 for inpatient stays, emergency room visits, MRI and CT scans and physical therapy.
OK, I give the marketers some credit for having the, well you know what, for just asking. Hey why not. However, the thing about insured consumers is that they are well, insured and as long as they have the card and free entry into the system, they will not comparison shop on price. They will go where their physician tells them and through what they have heard from word of mouth. And even those in high deductible plans may find it very confusing to go through EOB statements and to understand what are charges versus what is the actual price to pay.
To me this is a slick way to gather competitor intelligence that does not have a whole lot of upside. In fact, it just feels unethical. But hey that's my opinion. Tell me yours.
2 comments:
Hi,
As a health care marketing consultant, I do a lot of reading in the health care area. One of the primary challenges is getting accurate pricing. In health care, charges (what the insurer is billed) and what the patient's insurer actually pays usually have little or no correlation. Instead, insurers pay the rates that they negotiate with the health care provider. I see nothing wrong with the practice you described. For any other business, prices are readily available and people price shop before buying. Also, even though consumers currently don't buy based on price, that may change in the future. Most large employers self-insure. This means that they pay their employees' health expenses directly and do care about price. They only use the health plan to administer claims. Some are therefore providing patients with incentives to use the most cost-effective (combination of quality and price) providers. Furthermore, patients with high-deductible plans are paying for the first $1000-$5000 of care out of pocket. As for your concern, about mixing apples and oranges (accurate coding of services), it may be just this type of research that forces the health care industry to do what every other industry has done: try to standardize their services and prices which will lead to better and more cost-effective care.
Hi Barbara. Thanks for commenting. I too am a health care marketing consultant (www.4wardfast / would love to compare notes) and I am married to a woman who designs global benefits for her self-insured company so I am familiar with the terminology and marketplace. Thanks for clarifying that for others. I too believe in total transparency and price is certainly in that arena. In fact, I have done work in the medical tourism arena and price packaging is the key. No wonder BCBS of South Carolina is contracting with foreign hospitals. I guess what I was getting at is that I believe the philosophy is correct but maybe the way this particular hospital went about getting there leaves me with a queasy marketing stomach. Thanks, Anthony
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