[walterbell]

There are operations research PhD's who use decades of aggregate demand data in dynamic pricing algorithms for the purpose of revenue and queue management in perishable services, e.g. software for pricing of airline seats, rental cars and hotel rooms.

In countries with universal healthcare, price cannot be used for queue management, but the US isn't one of those countries. Did any hospital use queue management software to adjust pricing as a mechanism for demand throttling, due to limited capacity in 2020-2021?

In any case, if supply-vs-demand is both a policy driver and metric of intervention performance, we need public, detailed hospital capacity data for analysis and optimization of net societal costs vs benefits. Utilization of space and skills is eminently quantifiable and software already exists for demand mgmt.

[zrail]

> Did any hospital use queue management software to adjust pricing as a mechanism for demand throttling, due to limited capacity in 2020-2021

No one shops for healthcare in the US based on price, for three reasons. First, prices are unknowable in advance. Second, if you have insurance the insurance will fulfill their end of the bargain if you need to be admitted (i.e. they will pay as agreed upon in the insurance contract). Third, emergency rooms in the US are required by law to stabilize any emergent patient that walks in the door, which means anyone can go to any ER anywhere and get treatment.

[depereo]

Isn't there a new law, partially rolled out, that requires US hospitals to disclose the cost for a procedure or treatment in advance?

[vel0city]

They're required to publish their prices, which results in giant PDF documents with thousands of different charge codes and prices. Its almost incomprehensible to analyze unless you're in healthcare billing. Plus, you'd need to know what services/medications/equipment you'll need before you even get to the hospital, which is pretty dang tricky unless you're a doctor yourself.

I was recently in the hospital for abdominal issues. How would I know what drugs they would give me? How would I know if they were going to give me some kind of scan? If they were going to give me a scan, are they going to use a portable machine or use a stationary machine? Are they going to need to use some kind of endoscopic scope? Will I need other things to assist with those scans (sedatives, contrast materials, etc)? Which blood work tests is the doctor going to order? Which urine tests is the doctor going to order? Are they going to order stool samples? How many samples are they going to need, how many times are they going to need to re-run tests? What if I get there and determine I need surgery? How should I have known I needed that ahead of time? What kind of surgery is it going to be? What drugs are involved in that?

Its not like you can walk up and see a board that says "INTESTIONAL DISTRESS -- $175"

[brimble]

> Its almost incomprehensible to analyze unless you're in healthcare billing.

Considering that hospitals seem (anecdotal evidence only) to fuck up their own billing codes like 20% of the time, I'm not even sure that's enough.

[ericd]

I briefly tried using the results of that, they're totally unnormalized, so even lining up identical line item charges is difficult. We have a deep learning language model that normalizes the language and lines up potential matches. But even if that works, it still doesn't get you the bill, because a single encounter includes a big batch of billing codes, depending on what the doctor tries to give you. And to get normal baskets, you probably want claims data. And the claims data providers we spoke to wanted 6-7 figures for a small dataset.

It's an incredibly parasitic industry, I've never seen anything quite like it. It's a pretty stark contrast to the largely altruistic motives of many of the healthcare professionals themselves.

[abduhl]

Hospitals don't comply with it. What is the government going to do, shut them down or fine them into closing during a pandemic?

Private companies have coopted the power over our government during this pandemic, and we have gladly given it to them in fear.

[nradov]

Pricing is mostly fixed for at least a year at a time by contracts with payers (insurance companies), or by Medicare fee schedules. Hospitals have almost no legal flexibility to dynamically adjust prices based on demand.