Global Leader | Managing Director at Milliman & MBWL | Global Employee Benefits | My Team and I Protect the Health & Financial Wellbeing of People Everywhere
Great post from my super smart colleague and #healthcare expert Mike Gaal about simplifying #healthcare costs. ➡ Do you agree that our industry can do better to simplify and control #healthcarecosts? Inviting my #LinkedIn network to join in the debate. #employeebenefits #mbwl #milliman #financialservices #leadership #globalbusiness #pensions
Consultant | Healthcare Actuary | Transparency Czar | Grill Master | Transplanted Yinzer | Empty Nester
A couple of years back, I read results of a survey where only 80% of respondents indicated they are sure the earth is round. So, when I read last week that 94% support healthcare price transparency (link to survey press release in the comments), that’s a mind-boggling number. This transparency movement is real and it’s a runaway train. The healthcare industry made this too complicated. I understand the “same procedure” can require different levels of complexity and support; and complications can arise; and there’s unforeseen issues; and this means the same procedure has a different underlying cost for different patients… But, I also know that when I roll into Fogo de Chao with some friends, my parents, and my kids, that my mom is going to spend all of her time at the salad bar, my kids are going to eat the most expensive steak, my non-red-meat-eating friends are going to focus on the chicken and the salad bar, and I’m going to stay green as long as humanly possible. And you know what? We all pay the same $66.50 for that meal (link to menu in the comments). Many in the industry would say healthcare is too complicated to have simplified pricing. I… disagree. With the appropriate data (which exists), actuaries can help normalize healthcare pricing and create more certainty for patients. As an added benefit, this could reduce the administrative burden related to revenue cycle management. If Fogo can do it, we can do it. Tell me why we can’t (while you slice me another piece of that filet mignon). #healthcare #pricetransparency #actuaries #fogo
Results-Driven Business Growth Strategist
8moIt does seem like an easy fix to commoditize the healthcare people receive and to let market forces keep down costs. However, getting a procedure done at a highly-ranked institution with superior outcomes is a far different "animal" than a procedure similar in name only performed by less-skilled docs at institutions which are sub par. What about innovations where a procedure may be a bit more expensive but the length of stay in the hospital is less or the overall recovery time shorter before people are able to return to work? Where do you draw the line and say this is the cost versus this is the overall cost savings? There are too many factors at play here to glibly assert that transparency is some sort of panacea. Where we need transparency and where transparency can do the most for society is transparency mandated for the insurance companies -- putting them under close scrutiny for their business practices and other games they are widely known to play. We also need transparency regarding sentinel events at healthcare delivery institutions, so the public can make choices based upon quality and superior outcomes.