Hurray! Here’s another example of how it appears the politicians in Washington DC are beginning to understand what it’s going to take to fix the US healthcare system. In my blog post dated April 10, 2018, I wrote:
[Congress] should be focused on increasing access by decreasing the cost of CARE. This would mean adopting policies that create market conditions that have been long proven in other industries to bring down prices and improve quality. Those policies result in empowering consumers to seek value, increase the supply of care, stimulate competition which will in turn spark innovation.
While I did not specifically single out the ban on physician owned hospitals, I’ve talked about the need to lift the ban on them many times. The recommendation from the Trump Administration to lift the ban is exactly the type of policy changes I was referring to that will create the right market conditions to stimulate competition. Furthermore, in my April 17, 2018 blog post I wrote that understanding where we spend our healthcare dollars is important when discussing healthcare policy so that focus can be given to those that will be impactful:
For example, since hospitals and physicians account for almost two-thirds of all healthcare expenditures, policy considerations regarding hospitals and physicians on how to create market conditions to improve the value delivered to the consumer should have higher priority.
The government needs to set the stage to allow consumerism in healthcare to thrive. Which means allowing the patient to make choices based on quality of care AND price! This won’t really happen until COMPETITION thrives. The provisions in the Affordable Care Act banning physician owned hospitals is yet ANOTHER example of the status quo trying to prevent competition. That is so opposite of what needs to happen. I encourage everyone to call or write their congressman to comply with the Trump Administrations request and pass legislation to lift this ban on physician-owned hospitals.
