Patients deserve to know costs of medical devices

If you want a better understanding of how a lack of transparency in medical device pricing is hurting patients and tax payers, you need to read the following editorial in Forbes. Here’s the link.

It explains in simple terms how absurd it is that we can compare the price of a new car or appliance but that when it comes to certain medical devices, including implants, the costs are kept from patients, hospitals and even the government.

Here’s a portion of the editorial:

The problem is the federal government is paying top dollar for anything from a titanium shoulder to a spinal implant. Medical device manufacturers require hospitals to sign confidentiality agreements that make it impossible for hospitals to disclose or document the cost of devices. This makes true price competition in the $153 billion medical device marketplace impossible.

Hospitals bill health insurance companies, including Medicare and Medicaid, for the surgical procedures and medical devices. Hospitals, consumers and the government have no idea whether the devices have been marked up hundreds of percentage points, because there is no ability to compare it with what other hospitals pay for the same products.

This practice is contributing to the insolvency of Medicare and Medicaid and must stop. The American people should be able to see where the majority of their taxpayer dollars are going and which companies are benefiting.

There is price and transparency in everything from medications to bed pans. But the cost of an implant or other medical device is one of the few items in health care that is hidden from the consumer and taxpayer.

Congress needs to pass legislation banning exclusivity agreements at hospitals that accept Medicare, Medicaid or other government programs. This is the only way we will get a handle on this irresponsible behavior.

In 2007, senator Chuck Grassely of Iowa and Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania introduced legislation requiring price transparency in medical devices. Unfortunately it never came up for a vote. How can we be serious about reforming our healthcare system if we don’t have Congress look at this issue again? Congress needs to take action and the public needs to insist on this.

A recent report explains that the U.S. pays about 60 percent more for hip implants compared to costs in other countries. This is just one example. There are many. If we do not have transparency across the board, we will never succeed at bringing down healthcare costs in this country. Let’s make it happen.

Ed Howe blogs regularly at Action for Better Healthcare.