Case study: OH hospital pays for bills for competing hospitals

One Ohio hospital is so bent on putting together a comparison shopping tool that it's willing to pay patients for competitive information. Alliance (OH) Community Hospital is paying patients $100 for copies of bills--and corresponding explanations of insurance benefits forms--from competing hospitals. Once it gets enough information, it plans to post prices and related reimbursement levels for leading insurers on its website.

An Ohio law in effect since November 2006 already requires state hospitals to post prices for common procedures on their websites, as well as making hard copies of price lists available to patients. However, Alliance wanted to take things further in an effort to help consumers comparison-shop, CEO Stan Jonas told AMNews.

To learn more about the hospital's plans:
- read this AMNews piece

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