instantly health

Beginning on January 1, 2021, patients should be able to search a hospital or health system website for the prices on 200 standard procedures. Mandated by CMS in 2020, the purpose was to provide a measure of price transparency for patients and consumers when seeking medical care. Image by Niek Verlaan from Pixabay  What happened? In randomly searching the internet on hospitals and health systems websites for pricing information, I found a confusing maze of information.   In all cases, the ability to find and search the information was difficult at best. I know my way around a website, search terms, and the internet as a healthcare provider and vendor marketing professional.   If I have difficulty finding, searching, and using the information to decide, how is a consumer or patient? Kudos to any hospital or health system that provided an experience that made the information easily accessible, searchable, and user-friendly. I am sure that over time with prodding from CMS...

  Image by Engin Akyurt from Pixabay Patients as buyers are no longer an "it will happen someday," but a market reality come January 1, 2021. Signs are apparent that market power is shifting from the hospitals as the dominant seller controlling the relationship to the patient as the chief buyer. The CMS January 1, 2021 mandate of the 200 searchable standard procedures with prices on the hospital website will allow the patient more control. In this kind of environment, the patient is king and queen. The hospitals' position in patients' minds will be an amalgamation of expectations and experience along the dimensions of brand, price, quality, experience, and engagement. Why? Because hospitals and health systems have little differentiation. Image by djedj from Pixabay A hospital is a hospital, is a hospital. What value does the hospital or health system bring to physicians and patients? That is the question at hand. And in a buyers' market, it's the only quest...