You live in Dallas. You go to see your trusted family doctor. You need your gallbladder out. He goes online. He has paid for a service called iRefer. This gives him access to online ratings of facilities and their quality of care. He can even search for price where it’s available. He tells you that you can stay in Dallas and pay $28,000 for your gallbladder removal. Or you can go to Oklahoma City and have a “5 diamond rated” surgeon at a “5 diamond rated facility” remove your gallbladder for $5655.”
What would you do? What do you think the company you work for (if they are self-insured) wants you to do? What if your company told you that your deductible would be waived and you would have no co-pay if you went to OKC?
Check out Medical Home Exchange. This may be the new paradigm of health care in the old USA. Unless the government outlaws this innovation.
G. Keith Smith, M.D.
