A hospital in New Hampshire is garnering some attention after it advertised its colonoscopies for a flat rate in the Sunday newspaper.
Elliot Hospital in Manchester, N.H., is using CareBundles to set all-inclusive fees for colonoscopies, hernia repair ($4,995) and knee arthroscopy ($5,995), according to a New Hampshire Public Radio report. Only the uninsured can get these set-price procedures for now, although the hospital is hoping to launch relationships with employers.
Many hospitals are pursing or offering care bundles, but the Elliot is a pioneer with print ads in newspapers touting a specific price for healthcare services. To many patients, this is relatively unheard of, as questions to their providers about price can often go unanswered.
The newspaper ad caught the eye of Richard Coll of Manchester, who knew he needed a colonoscopy but didn't have insurance coverage. Further, the lack of information about the price of a colonoscopy left him putting it off.
"[I was] shopping around, and everyone I asked, whether it was the doctor or an institution like a hospital, they looked at me like I was crazy," Mr. Coll told NHPR.
Rick Phelps, MD, president of Elliot Hospital, said he understands why Americans are frustrated about opaque healthcare pricing. "I think that frustration has been exacerbated with all of the high deductible health plans that are out there. So now we've created consumerism; the problem is we haven't armed the consumer with access to the information they need to make their decisions," he told NHPR.
New Hampshire has pursued more visible healthcare prices for a few years now. The state's insurance department launched a website in 2007 that lists median bundled prices — both facility and physician payments — for about 30 common, mostly outpatient, services. The site has received little marketing, and an analysis later found modest consumer use of the site and meager affect on consumers' price-shopping habits.
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