Another big push in healthcare has focused on the informed consumer.

Another big push in healthcare has focused on the informed consumer. We want consumers/patients to be able to shop for healthcare, thus resulting in lower healthcare costs because of competition. 

The problem in shopping for healthcare is how do I, as a potential patient or consumer of healthcare services, determine the value and/or quality of the healthcare I am to receive.

Healthcare does not follow the traditional supply and demand models seen in other industries because according to “16.1 Supply And Demand In Health-Care Markets” consumers of healthcare have a difficult time determining value and they do not generally pay the full cost for services.

So, let’s say I know that a knee replacement is $10,000 at one provider and $15,000 for another provider. Do I know that one is inpatient, and one is outpatient? Does that make a difference in my recovery? Could that affect the complication rate? How do I know that one provider’s patient never achieves full functionality while another provider’s patients achieve full functionality and have a great quality of life?

How does a potential patient decide about a provider when they know almost nothing about quality and may only know price? Is price the only consideration?

What if I need a knee replacement and don’t have insurance or the ability to pay for the replacement?

So, the ultimate user, the patient, is not the one that is paying the full cost of the service. The ultimate user usually has someone else decide who they can see if they have may a preferred provider groups, and the market is not setting the price. That is done by providers, government payers and insurance companies. 

So, how does this unique set of variables affect quality of care, and does it have an impact on the ethics of healthcare and healthcare delivery, and we can we possible control cost in this environment?

Thoughts group?

Reference:

16.1 Supply and Demand in Health-Care Markets(). Retrieved from https://2012books.lardbucket.org/books/theory-and-applications-of-economics/s20-01-supply-and-demand-in-health-ca.html

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