Orthopedic Surgeons Get “F” Grade On Knowing Cost Of The Devices They Implant (Forbes)
When I first glanced at this study, I wasn’t sure of its importance. But then I learned that orthopedic surgeons can often choose among a wide variety of devices to perform specific operations. There isn’t just one company making one type of pin, for example, to hold together a fractured fibula. Surgeons can choose between high cost and low cost alternatives. In a rational market, surgeons would consider whether the advantages of the high cost devices are worth the added price, a price, it should be noted, that is eventually paid for through tax dollars or insurance premiums, and in some cases is born by the patient receiving the procedure.
This pattern of misestimates ends up minimizing the differences between high and low cost devices. These errors end up favoring expensive devices, which appear cheaper, relatively speaking, than they are.
I do not blame these surgeons for being so clueless about the cost of these devices. If I had been surveyed about treatments I have offered to my patients, I would also have failed the test, probably more miserably than the surgeons did. We physicians often have no incentive to know how much the treatments we prescribe cost our patients or our healthcare institutions.
To improve healthcare markets, we need to make price info more readily available. We also need to align incentives, so that patients and providers only choose high cost alternatives when those alternatives are worth the extra cost.