This past Thursday we set a record for ourselves. Five patients in one day scheduled their surgery through our internet “hotline.” We have had lots of days when one or two patients requested surgery, but never five in one day. This is remarkable in that we have done no marketing of any kind other than the usual internet Google stuff. The only other marketing we have undertaken is indirect, that exposure resulting from press the facility has received from various interviews or articles I have been involved with.
I suspect that more and more people will drop their insurance as it becomes prohibitively expensive and pay the penalty to Uncle Sambama. The increasingly large number of uninsured people would do well to familiarize themselves with our website so that they will know what to expect in terms of the costs of various surgical treatments, if for no other reason than to know what it should cost them wherever they live.
Once again, we proudly post our all-inclusive prices and encourage others to join us in this effort, as price transparency will do much to bring market discipline to the practice of medicine and also serve to end much of the cartel-like business practices that have driven the price of care through the stratosphere.
G. Keith Smith, M.D.
