Hospital Fair Price
Overview
The National Alliance is equipping employers/purchasers and coalitions to better utilize the tools of transparency to achieve a fair price for hospital services.
Beyond Hospital Transparency
Getting to Fair Price
Hospital costs are one of the fastest-growing expenditures in the US economy, with employers/purchasers and employees paying the highest prices in the world. Increasing market consolidation enables health systems to operate with little or no competition or market constraints. This has led to indefensible hospital pricing and minimal constraint on growth, further “investment” in market consolidation, and bloated overhead costs.
While the battle to curb healthcare costs has been going on for decades, it wasn’t until recently that employers and other purchasers had access to the data to truly understand just how non-responsive the system has been. Sage Transparency synthesizes multiple sources of data to bring greater focus to the current state of hospital prices.
The National Alliance is helping employers/purchasers navigate the data; understand their plan sponsor fiduciary rights and responsibilities; determine what a fair price is for hospital services in specific marketplaces; and offer guidance about options to achieve fair pricing.
Fair Price Resources
Employers/purchasers are often paying hospitals more than two times what’s required to break even, with some prices reaching over 300%, 400%, and even 500% of Medicare. These resources support efforts to determine and achieve a fair price for hospital services.
Getting to Hospital Fair Price
In this video, we explore how new data transparency highlights the crucial role hospital prices play in escalating healthcare spending, and why policy change, not reliance on health systems and plans, is essential for addressing this issue. Our special guests, Shawn Gremminger and Gloria Sachdev, discuss the need for structural changes in the healthcare system to better control rising costs.
Hospital Fair Price in Action: People Matter
This storytelling document gives voice to coalitions, employers/purchasers, and workers to demonstrate how largely unchecked hospital prices cause harm to employers and employees. It also offers evidence of how this weighty and complex issue can and is being addressed to drive meaningful change.
Setting the Record Straight: The Urgency of Achieving Hospital Fair Price
New data transparency reinforces what we have long known: Hospital prices are out of control and we can't rely on health systems and health plans to course correct. This resource sets the record straight on the top 10 hospital industry myths driving the largest expense for American families and businesses.
Hospital Price Transparency Playbook
The National Alliance created a playbook for employers/purchasers and regional business coalitions, “Beyond Hospital Transparency: Getting to Fair Price.”
Sage Transparency Hospital Value Dashboard
The no-cost Sage Transparency™ hospital value dashboard is interactive and customizable, giving users access to price and quality data for thousands of hospitals nationwide.
NASHP Hospital Costs Tool and Resources
To support efforts to better understand and address hospital costs, the National Academy for State Health Policy (NASHP) has developed an interactive hospital cost tool with supporting resources. (NASHP data is included in the Sage Transparency tool.)
Employer Hospital Price Transparency Project
Employers’ Forum of Indiana in Partnership with the RAND Corporation released a study in May 2022. It revealed that, in 2020, across all hospital inpatient and outpatient services, employers/purchasers and private insurers paid 224% of what Medicare would have paid for the same services at the same facilities.
Coalitions In Action
Membership in the National Alliance is a catalyst for state and regional coalitions and their employer/purchaser members to advance key initiatives. Together, they leverage their collective influence to drive health, equity and value.
Employers’ Forum of Indiana
Houston Business Coalition on Health
Florida Alliance for Healthcare Value
Related News & Resources
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