Page 7 - SFHN SEPTEMBER 2021

The Battle Over Transparency
When It Comes To Patient Care,
in Health Care Continues
Reorient Your Team

There is ample evidence to suggest the battle for health
No matter if a member of your team has been care transparency for consumers is going to be a long strug-
with you for a decade or just started ten months gle. The Federal Government under the previous adminis-
ago, they have something in common. Both tration passed a series of regulations designed to make hos-
have been working through the COVID-19 pan- pital and insurance carrier prices transparent to the public.
demic and therefore have needed to alter their The current administration is moving forward with imple-
approach to patient care. mentation. As health care consumers and patient advocates,
A recent Harvard Business Review article on we need to continue to support their efforts.
this subject speaks about the incredible change The New York Times had a piece in August that discussed
that has occurred in the workplace for both new the data being made public for the first time as hospitals
and veteran employees. The fundamentals comply with the Federal Regulations. That data illustrates
which organizations took for granted as part of the wide variation in the price of services that insurance
the culture (and the way business was done) in companies have been able to negotiate with hospitals for BY FRASER COBBE
many areas has eroded. BY JAY JUFFRE patients receiving the same services. The headline of the
This is very true when it comes to patient story was their inability to negotiate favorable rates with
care. It is nobody’s fault, but let’s face it, when some hospitals and health systems that leave patients “getting prices that are higher than
folks needed even routine medical care over the past 18 months, the atmos- they would if they pretended to have no coverage at all”.
phere was just plain different. Between the masks, the temperature checks, Given patients are footing the bill for a much larger percentage of the overall cost of
the questionnaires, the social distancing, and everything else, even a trip to care through increasing co-payments, consumers deserve to know how much they have
the dentist for a routine cleaning felt more like going in for a root canal. to pay for health care services and whether their insurance company is negotiating favor-
There is a big need to get back to basics when it comes to how we able terms on their behalf or not.
approach patients and their families. Our people either have trouble Yet compliance with the hospital transparency rule that took effect in January has been
remembering a time before COVID-19 or were not even part of the team extremely low and efforts remain afoot to prevent this sort of data from ever seeing the
when it started. When you add the stress that they (and everyone) have light of day.
been under, clearly there is an opportunity to reset things. So, meet as a Bloomberg Law reported that 94.4% of hospitals haven’t met one or more of the require-
team. ments since the hospital transparency rule took effect January 1, 2021, according to a sur-
This is nobody’s fault but gain agreement on the path forward as it relates vey conducted by Patient Rights Advocate.
to creating alignment on the ground rules. What will be the plan to get The Wall Street Journal also recently reported that “the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and
everyone in a great place when it comes to execution and consistency? How the Pharmaceutical Care Management Association have filed separate lawsuits to block
can we get everybody trained (or retrained) the right way? The organization portions of a federal rule mandating that insurers and employers disclose prices they pay
and health systems that deliver the best patient experience complimented for health care services, the newest legal challenges to the health care price transparency
by high staff engagement will win. Others will struggle or worse so make a rule.”
commitment today to execute the fundamentals. Your patients and teams The significant impact of health care debt on American families is well documented.
will thank you. We should no longer tolerate the veil of secrecy that surrounds the price of health care
services. A transparent marketplace will enhance competition, drive up quality, and
Jay Juffre is Executive Vice President, ImageFIRST. For more information on lower costs for all to benefit.
ImageFIRST, call 1-800-932-7472 or visit www.imagefirst.com.
Fraser Cobbe, Executive Director, Dade County Medical Association,
can be reached at fcobbe@miamimed.com.

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