Shannon Brownlee's most recent TIME Ideas op-ed is up, and it tackles one of the most-repeated ideas in health care: If we give patients a financial stake in choosing less expensive care, and provide good information about which providers are cheaper than others, we'll end up with higher-value care. (After all, it works in lots of other markets--we don't have a crisis of spiraling iPad costs and lower-than-expected outcomes.) Brownlee's piece gets to the heart of why price transparency doesn't go far enough, though:
"So why do I still have no idea which lens to choose? Because I still need more information. All I know about this lens is what the slick brochure from the manufacturer is telling me. But how safe is the more expensive lens? What are the long-term effects? Can I get a new lens put in if it goes bad? That kind of information just doesn’t exist — as it doesn’t for many medical procedures."
You can read the rest of the article here: http://ideas.time.com/2012/02/27/can-you-comparison-shop-for-surgery/#ixzz1ncfvpkNU
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