Disparities in Healthcare
Many procedures and treatments have significant pricing disparities throughout medical facilities nationwide. Other major cost disparities that are less complex regarding overall costs are imaging services (CT Scan, X-ray etc) offered by medical facilities. Imaging costs and services are more cut and dry, therefore easier to breakdown data and determine the cost of service down to the penny. More importantly, these are relatively the same diagnostic machines doing the same work with the help of an experienced and trained professional. Yet, when it comes to a fixed price the cost disparity for imaging services from one medical facility to another widely differs. More states now than ever are reporting exclusively on the cost of healthcare and disparities (all payer claims database e.g.), and I anticipate more will follow and continue aggregating and reporting such data to the public and policymakers.