OKC hospital starts bidding war posting surgery prices online.

[littlewolf]

http://kfor.com/2013/07/08/okc-hospital-posting-surgery-prices-online/

more. faster. please.

OKLAHOMA CITY – An Oklahoma City surgery center is offering a new kind of price transparency, posting guaranteed all-inclusive surgery prices online. The move is revolutionizing medical billing in Oklahoma and around the world.
Dr. Keith Smith and Dr. Steven Lantier launched Surgery Center of Oklahoma 15 years ago, founded on the simple principle of price honesty.

snip

“What we’ve discovered is health care really doesn’t cost that much,” Dr. Smith said. “What people are being charged for is another matter altogether.”
Surgery Center of Oklahoma started posting their prices online about four years ago.
Click here to see the online prices at Surgery Center of Oklahoma.

snip

The prices are all-inclusive quotes and they are guaranteed.
“When we first started we thought we were about half the price of the hospitals,” Dr. Lantier remembers. “Then we found out we’re less than half price. Then we find out we’re a sixth to an eighth of what their prices are. I can’t believe the average person can afford health care at these prices.”

snip

Their goal was to start a price war and they did.
Their first out-of-town patients came from Canada; soon everyday Americans caught on.
Matthew Gang, 22, tore his patella tendon, dislocating his knee-cap playing basketball earlier this year.
Gang is from California and he is uninsured.
Surgery in his home-state was going to be about $30,000.

snip

The posted price at Surgery Center of Oklahoma was $5,700, one-fifth the price.
Matthew and his father Tom Gang flew from California to Oklahoma for surgery.
“It was well worth it,” Tom Gang said. “I need a rotator cuff surgery right now. I’m thinking about flying out there and having my surgery because it was such a positive experience for us.”
A handful of other Oklahoma medical facilities have started joining Surgery Center of Oklahoma in price transparency.

more at the link

[onethatcares]

1. oh boy, the insurance companies aren't gonna like this one

at least that would be my take.

I need some fairly inexpensive in my opinion surgery to correct a hernia, after getting a bill for $68,000.00 for an appendectomy, I wasn't sure there was such a thing as "fairly inexpensive".

Rock on.

[Egalitarian Thug]

3. No they aren't, not one bit.

This is completely contrary to their inevitable strategy to use the Health Insurance Industry Profit Protection Act to raise costs.

I predict that this facility will be getting a very nice offer to purchase in the near future.

[dimbear]

2. Good. I can certify that the first step to a reasonably priced surgery is usually

getting on a plane.

It's a little tougher if you can't travel.

[msongs]

4. all medical/dental charges should be online so customers can shop around nt

[littlewolf]

5. ding ding ding winner

imagine a website like kayak or travago
which is a travel site
but for medical procedures.