HEALTH Oklahoma City hospital posts surgery prices online, creating bidding war

C

Chair Warmer

Membership Revoked
Seeded by Carloz - Wed Jul 10, 2013 3:10 PM


Surgery Center of Oklahoma started posting their prices online about four years ago.


Click here to see the online prices at Surgery Center of Oklahoma;

http://www.surgerycenterok.com/pricing/


The prices are all-inclusive quotes and they are guaranteed.

“When we first started we thought we were about half the price of the hospitals,” Dr. Lantier remembers. “Then we found out we’re less than half price. Then we find out we’re a sixth to an eighth of what their prices are. I can’t believe the average person can afford health care at these prices.”

Their goal was to start a price war and they did. Their first out-of-town patients came from Canada; soon everyday Americans caught on.

Matthew Gang, 22, tore his patella tendon, dislocating his knee-cap playing basketball earlier this year. Gang is from California and he is uninsured. Surgery in his home-state was going to be about $30,000. The posted price at Surgery Center of Oklahoma was $5,700, one-fifth the price. Matthew and his father Tom Gang flew from California to Oklahoma for surgery.

“It was well worth it,” Tom Gang said. “I need a rotator cuff surgery right now. I’m thinking about flying out there and having my surgery because it was such a positive experience for us.”

A handful of other Oklahoma medical facilities have started joining Surgery Center of Oklahoma in price transparency:

•McBride Orthopedic Hospital
•Oklahoma Heart Hospital
•Cancer Specialists of Oklahoma
•Breast Imaging of Oklahoma
•Comprehensive Diagnostic Imaging

Surgery Center of Oklahoma does accept private insurance, but the center does not accept Medicaid or Medicare. [The center's] Dr. [Keith] Smith said federal Medicare regulation would not allow for their online price menu. They have avoided government regulation and control in that area by choosing not to accept Medicaid or Medicare payments.

Several medical facilities in Oklahoma are posting their prices online through The Kempton Group’s website, in order to circumvent that Medicare guideline.

The Kempton Group is a third-party administrator for self-funded health insurance plans in Oklahoma and Texas.


Click here for a list of Oklahoma facilities which offer online pricing through The Kempton Group.

http://www.kemptongroup.com/KemptonMain/member-resources/kempton-premier-providers-directory.php#okhh



http://carloz.newsvine.com/_news/20...ts-surgery-prices-online-creating-bidding-war
 
P

Parakeet

Senior Member
If only I could find something like this in my area, I might, actually, be able to afford getting my knee repaired.
 
Shinmen Takezo

Shinmen Takezo

Membership Revoked
If only I could find something like this in my area, I might, actually, be able to afford getting my knee repaired.

It's only a one day drive to OK from Vegas.
Why don't you hop in your car and do it?!
 
packyderms_wife

packyderms_wife

Neither here nor there.
Hopefully most did not miss the important part of Medicaid and Medicare do not allow for price transparency... hence the reason obama care is a failure from the get go!

K-
 
S

summerthyme

Administrator
_______________
Heck, I'll be looking into this. Plane tickets and hotel rooms for a week are CHEAP compared to the cost of getting a hip replacement done locally. And I'd MUCH prefer being in an American hospital with (mostly, anyway!) English speaking staff. (and I'm sure that the "tourist hospitals" in various places DO have "mostly" English speaking staff, but I've been the victim of serious miscommunications with foreign doctors here in the US... I KNOW how much trouble it can cause)

I also was thinking about the logistical problems of having something like a hip replacement halfway across the globe... the fun of international air travel, including sitting in one place for MANY hours... a week or so after surgery. I don't think so!!!

Summerthyme
 
packyderms_wife

packyderms_wife

Neither here nor there.
summerthyme said:
Heck, I'll be looking into this. Plane tickets and hotel rooms for a week are CHEAP compared to the cost of getting a hip replacement done locally. And I'd MUCH prefer being in an American hospital with (mostly, anyway!) English speaking staff. (and I'm sure that the "tourist hospitals" in various places DO have "mostly" English speaking staff, but I've been the victim of serious miscommunications with foreign doctors here in the US... I KNOW how much trouble it can cause)

I also was thinking about the logistical problems of having something like a hip replacement halfway across the globe... the fun of international air travel, including sitting in one place for MANY hours... a week or so after surgery. I don't think so!!!

Summerthyme
Click to expand...

Plan for two weeks for recovery, this from friends who have had it done locally, before travelling again. Still cheap compare to many other places.

K-
 
Blue 5

Blue 5

Veteran Member
This is awesome. I've been saying for years that this should have been the model all along. If you can go into an oil change place and see exactly how much the services cost, why shouldn't hospitals do the same?
 
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