What Does The Affordable Care Act Price Transparency Mean For Dentists?
What Does The Affordable Care Act Price Transparency Mean For Dentists?
The Affordable Care Act price transparency federally mandated rule implements a variety of new standards over the next several years. If this is the direction medical care is going, it’s one that dentists can take a proactive approach to. Not only that, adding your prices online will help you grow your dental practice by matching with Google & BING searches from patients specifically looking for dental pricing information.
What Is The CARES ACT Price Transparency Rule?
Although it went into effect on January 1, 2021, knowledge of the Affordable Care Act price transparency rule is not yet widespread. Here are a few of the key takeaways.
- Hospitals, outpatient departments, and ambulatory surgical centers must provide machine-readable files with itemized services and pricing.
- Pricing must be shoppable and presented in a consumer-friendly online and print format.
- Insurance companies must disclose out-of-pocket costs upfront.
- The new Medicare Procedure Price Lookup tool allows consumers to compare Medicare payments for multiple procedures from both hospital outpatient departments and ambulatory surgical care centers.
- The new Medicare Care Compare empowers patients to estimate the cost for new and returning Medicare patients to compare specialist prices in their area.
- More phases are on the way over the next few years, including price transparency for medical clinics and trips to a standard doctor’s office.
How Does Price Transparency Benefit Patients?
One of the objectives of providing procedural price lists is to empower patients to be consumers as well as patients. The current pricing model for both insured and uninsured, leaves patients in the dark regarding how much their medical care will cost. The medical field is also one of the only industries where consumers spend money without the ability to determine the price first.
Currently, 56% of patients have had unexpected medical bills in the mail. For example, an outpatient procedure can include bills from the:
- Hospital
- Surgeon
- Anesthesiologist
- Pharmacy
- Lab work
- Pathology
- And more
The bills slowly come trickling in over the next several months. With the new federal rule, patients will not only know what to expect—but can comparison shop.
Don’t think prices differ much? In Virginia, for example, the average price of a diagnostic colonoscopy is $2,763, but the range across the state is from $208 to $10,563. This data comes from the database aggregated by San Diego-based Turquoise Health, one of the new firms looking to market the data to businesses, while offering some information free of charge to patients.
Many other aggregate sites are on the way, such as Health Cost Labs. As to how these services will be monetized is unclear, but a survey found that 74% of patients would rather pay $50 more to know the price of their medical care upfront.
What This Means For Dentists?
While dentists are not included as part of the new federal rule or the upcoming price transparency phases, this is likely the direction medical pricing is going. In addition to the fact that patients want to be able to comparison shop for their non-emergent care by price, facility reputation, and physician skillset, this new rule has created a ripple effect.
From a digital marketing and patient satisfaction standpoint, new and potential patients are already searching online to inquire about dental pricing. With few dentists posting their price lists online, adding your prices can help you rank higher in local search results. Also, your transparency can rapidly build patient trust giving you a competitive edge.
Ready To Add Pricing To Your Website?
You already have procedural price lists and provide patients and prospects with pricing upon request, so why not add your prices to your website? If you are ready to adopt dental price transparency, we invite you to reach out to Weence.
Weence is a team of tenured digital marketers who specialize in the unique marketing compliance limitations of dentists. We will add your pricing page in a manner that is machine-readable, consumer-friendly, and that helps you to improve your organic page rank. Let’s get started!
