After hearing from hospitals across Florida, Governor Rick Scott’s Commission on Hospital Funding is meeting in Tallahassee Wednesday to come up with recommendations. A big focus was on transparency.
Florida House Health and Human Services Chairman Jason Brodeur told the panel he’d like to require hospital prices to be published in more places.
“Because I think that once consumers understand that this place charges $800 for an MRI and this place charges $4,000, they’re probably going to start asking, ‘Well, why are you charging $4,000?’” Brodeur said, “and a lot of times the answer is, ‘Well, because we can,’ and that’s probably not the best thing for the consumer.”
Brodeur also says the state should change how it reimburses hospitals. Instead of paying based on the volume of services provided, he says payments should be tied to low rates of infection and readmission.
Governor Scott convened the health care commission this year as the federal government phases out a program that reimburses hospitals for treating uninsured and underinsured patients.
