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Q&A
Discussion on the recently released healthcare pricing report
1:12:28
ยท
113 sec
Council Member Menin expresses frustration over the delayed implementation of the Office of Health Care Accountability, while Acting Commissioner Morse highlights the release of a comprehensive inaugural report on healthcare pricing.
- The report is over 260 pages long and documents challenges with healthcare pricing across the city
- Morse emphasizes the importance of the report's findings, including significant price variations for medical procedures
- Examples of price disparities are given, such as colonoscopies ranging from $900 to $11,000 and C-sections from $9,000 to $54,000
Julie Menin
1:12:28
I just wanna interrupt.
1:12:29
I'm sorry because the time is limited.
1:12:30
So the we fought really hard to get 15 lines.
1:12:33
15 lines were supposed to be funded for this, encompassing a $2,000,000 budget.
1:12:40
So you're saying seven have been identified, meaning the office only has one person fully hired one year after the implementation date for the creation of this office.
1:12:52
And I might add, this office, studies show, will save the city $2,000,000,000 a year.
1:12:58
So my question is why is only one person hired to fund this office?
Michelle Morse
1:13:04
Thank you for that question, council member Menon.
1:13:07
We are doing our best to hire and move the office's work forward.
1:13:13
What I will share is that a number of the positions that were created for this office are specialized positions.
1:13:20
We are glad that we were able to identify seven candidates so far, but I think most importantly, we are thankful that we've been able to get this very comprehensive report out as was required by law, and we've also been able to move forward with all of the planning to make sure that the website is available and consumers are able to go to the website to see the different prices for healthcare access across different services and hospital systems.
1:13:50
So what the report even showed was that for something like a colonoscopy, the prices are anywhere from $900 to $11,000 depending on the health system that you go to across the city.
1:14:02
A c section rate is anywhere from something like $9,000 to $54,000 depending on what hospital system you go to.
1:14:12
So we know that even though again we're prioritizing hiring, that report is the result of our agency taking this office very seriously.
Julie Menin
1:14:21
Chair, can I just ask one last question related to the report?