The Critical Side Effect Doctors Aren't Discussing: Out-of-Pocket Costs
In this video, I talk about why doctors should talk to patients about out-of-pocket costs when evaluating treatment options.
In this video, I talk about why doctors should talk to patients about out-of-pocket costs when evaluating treatment options.
How is a physician supposed to know which medicine is most affordable under which insurance plan?
Fortunately, there are tools coming into use designed to help clinicians figure out patient-specific costs of any medication they prescribe. The tools (jargon alert!) are called RTBTs, for real-time benefit tools.
Do you feel like your out of pocket medical expenses are growing? You are not alone. Even for people getting Medicare, the amount of money coming out of patients pockets is growing too. And it is growing not only because all health care spending is growing, but also because patients are being asked to bear…
A recent article in the New York Times, projects increasing problems with federal budget deficits over the next several decades, problems caused in no small part by the likelihood of increased health expenditures. More evidence of the importance of overcoming partisanship. Whether you are a liberal or conservative, you have to recognize that Medicare and…
David Asch and I recently published an article in Health Affairs on the challenge of getting healthcare practitioners to stop doing things they are accustomed to doing, even when the evidence that those things are harmful becomes overwhelming. Here is a teaser from that article, and a link to the full piece: As hard as…
In a minute, I’m going to ask you what the most expensive medical condition is in the American healthcare system. Before you guess, however, I’m going to explain what I mean by “most expensive.” I’m not talking about cost per patient. Some people with cancer receive hundreds of thousands of dollars of chemotherapy per year,…
Physicians need to broach discussions about out-of-pocket costs with patients the same way they discuss a treatment’s side effects, public policy professors wrote. “Admittedly, out-of-pocket costs are difficult to predict, but so are many medical outcomes that are nevertheless included in clinical discussions,” Peter Ubel, MD, of Duke University’s School of Public Policy, and colleagues wrote….