Dr Austin Frakt Suggests Ways of Improving Healthcare Transparency

Providing the cost of care beforehand will allow the patient enough time to understand what he or she may be getting into, similar to signing a contract, according to Austin Frakt, PhD, health economist and researcher.

When it comes to cost and prices in healthcare, Austin Frakt, PhD, health economist and researcher, believes that providing the cost of care beforehand will allow the patient enough time to understand what he or she may be getting into, as if it were like signing a contract.

He adds that the quality side of the industry should mirror its cost-related counterparts.

“I think it’s really just an ethical issue that patients should know what they’re paying for what they’re getting,” Dr Frakt says. He added that “If you buy any other product—a cell phone, a car, a computer—you want to know the price and how it’s going to perform and I think we should know that in healthcare as well.”