Transcripts

"Bill of Health"-Curing Questionable Billing

SUSIE GHARIB: There's this old saying, if you have to ask how much it costs, you can't afford it. But when it comes to medical procedures, hospitals are notorious for not being able to accurately answer questions about cost. As Jeff Yastine reports in tonight's "Bill of Health," that's beginning to change as more consumers foot the bill for their own medical care.

JEFF YASTINE, NIGHTLY BUSINESS REPORT CORRESPONDENT: What if you could buy a medical procedure in the same way that you buy a toaster at the store? After all, when you go to the store, you know exactly what the price of that toaster is going to be. It says so right on the side of the box. But that's not always the case when you go to a hospital. Let's pretend that this jar is your kidney. Well, if you have insurance, your kidney stone operation might cost $5,000. It's a volume discount negotiated by the insurance company. But if you're like many people these days, you don't have insurance. So is the price of your kidney stone operation $10,000 or is it $20,000? Often the hospital itself can't even tell you until after the procedure is done.

That business model is changing. Some states like Minnesota, now require hospitals to post prices online. Patients can compare prices by hospital and procedure. Some commercial web sites, like vimo.com, also have data on hospitals. They show the list price and the discounted price negotiated by insurance companies. But experts like Paul Ginsburg of the Center for Studying Health System Change, a policy research group, say the information doesn't show the quality of medical care or the real costs to consumers.

PAUL GINSBURG, PRES., CENTER FOR STUDYING HEALTH SYSTEM CHANGE: They need prices which are the prices that they actually face. In health care, everyone pays a different price, like taking an airline flight. It all depends on what your insurer has negotiated or if you are unfortunately uninsured, sometimes you'll pay the highest prices.

YASTINE: Baptist Health South Florida established a corporate pricing office in 2001. Any customer can make one call and find out to the penny, what their total costs, or out of pocket costs, will be. Vice President Eric Shatanof says today's healthcare environment demands price transparency.

ERIC SHATANOF, CORPORATE VP, BAPTIST HEALTH SOUTH FLORIDA: There is a high number of uninsured in our county. Even with the existing insurance that people have, not necessarily the high deductible, there's an increasing share that the patients have to pay through their co-pays, co- insurance and deductibles. So we felt that it was important for them to know beforehand.

YASTINE: Shatanof says previously, customers had to call different hospital departments and the price quotes weren't always accurate. Experts say the ability to price health care in the same way that we price toasters, won't be truly successful until more hospitals make their own effort in providing accurate cost information to patients. Jeff Yastine, NIGHTLY BUSINESS REPORT, Bill of Health.