A New Haven, Conn.-based physician will take on a new role as "Dr. Bob Barker" in a hospital price guessing game modeled after The Price Is Right, Yale Daily News reports.
Adam Berkwitt, MD, is an assistant professor of pediatrics at Yale School of Medicine and a pediatric hospitalist at Yale -New Haven (Conn.) Children's Hospital. Dr. Berkwitt will premier a game for City-Wide Open Studios, the nearly month-long New Haven arts festival, to help people better understand the costs of healthcare.
The Price is Right asks contestants to guess the prices of consumer products like blenders and icemakers, earning chips for their correct answers. Contestants then drop the chips on a pegboard in a game called "plinko" to try and win various prizes.
In Dr. Berkwitt's edition, contestants will win plinko chips for correctly guessing the prices of various over-the-counter medications and medical items. They must guess how much a consumer would pay for the item at a retail store, and how much a hospital would charge for the item.
Players will also drop a chip in the13-foot plinko board to determine their insurance status and if they have a chronic illness.
Dr. Berkwitt told Yale Daily News he hopes the game will help consumers learn about the expensive nature of American healthcare, the costs of living with a chronic illness and the impact of medical debt.