Arnold Milstein, MD, MPH

The authors propose a simple legal mechanism to combat chargemaster abuses and encourage provider price competition. This solution is superior to prevailing legislative and regulatory responses to surprise out-of-network bills.

Outpatient surgeries in the United States account for roughly 7% of annual healthcare expenditures. To exploit substantial opportunities to improve the value of outpatient surgical care, the authors composed an evidence-based care delivery composite for national discussion and pilot testing.

We examined patient response to a narrowing of a preferred provider organization network that effectively raised the out-of-pocket price for a few physicians.