At least six, but I think a couple of them required a followup or two. I <3 accidental savings.
]]>Thanks for the note, Dr. Medimentary. I will definitely check out that Health Affairs article. Looks like the is a subscription fee, or do you access through another avenue?
Thanks for a note about your cousin – I made reference to your comment in the text above. I am wondering now if the MFM specialist has specific training for this, or if by chance the images are still read by a radiologist behind the scenes in case something is missed? I know for one of the EPIC ‘go-lives’ we had a similar situation come up where it was preferred for our EKGs to be read by a cardiologist rather than the regular provider.
Or, perhaps they are looking at something so specific in the ultrasound that only an MFM specialist would know what he or she is looking at vs. a routine ultrasound where it almost seems to be a data/measurement gathering exercise? I am clearly outside of my finance wheelhouse, but I love the conversation.
Perhaps since my experience is mostly with health systems (and in a lot of cases rural health), the third party interpretation is just them covering themselves? I will ask around the next time this comes up.
Max
]]>Hi Dragon Guy,
We had to quarantine for 2 weeks in a hotel when we went into Calgary back in August. We actually had to document our plans with border agents and Alberta Public Health. The process was really organized. But yes, in the current state of the world, it is not as easy as jumping the border for an afternoon to save $450 on an ultrasound.
Max
]]>Thanks, David.
The real question is how many ultrasounds did you have with all those kids! We are just 2-3 hours from Canada but it would take a lot more than $450 for me to make that drive. This was pretty much accidental savings.
Have a good weekend.
Max
]]>Nice write up. I would be happy to receive any healthcare in Canada. As you show, they provide quality care at much lower prices. The difference in pricing ($82 vs $540) is one of the main reasons healthcare in the US is so expensive. Ewe Reinhardt was a Princeton health economist who published quite a bit on healthcare pricing and he argued that the US has a patchwork system with lots of moving parts and the price of each component of care (not necessarily the cost) is higher here than elsewhere. Wages, profits, and administrative costs get included in the price of care.
There is a Health Affairs article (2019, Vol.38(1), p.87-95) that you may enjoy. It is entitled “It’s Still The Prices, Stupid: Why The US Spends So Much On Health Care, And A Tribute To Uwe Reinhardt.”
On a side note, my cousin is a Maternal Fetal Medicine specialist (high-risk Obstetrician) and reads his own ultrasounds. I think a lot of Ob/Gyns read their own ultrasounds during prenatal visits.
]]>For all of my kids, I didn’t even consider shopping around for ultrasounds. The biggest reason was probably because our insurance covered the ultrasound at the hospital right next to the women’s center, and I didn’t even consider that there was an alternative. But even if I was paying out of pocket, I probably would be hard pressed to drive/fly to a Canada for an ultrasound. Maybe if I lived closer.
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