Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery

Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery

 

Hello. Dr. Keith Smith with you – Surgery Center of Oklahoma. Thank you for joining us in this video blog series.

Last week, Forbes contributor, Dave Chase, author of Healthcare Economics, wrote a piece called ’The 7 Organizations that will turn healthcare upside down in 2016.” Surgery Center of Oklahoma made the list. Why did we make the list? We made the list because of our online, transparent and bundled pricing.

This is something that he thought a lot of people in the United States would copy. That, indeed, is going on. St. Luke’s Health System in Pennsylvania has a website that I would encourage you to check out. It is their cash pricing website. If you go to our Facebook page, I’ve provided a picture of it for you there.

When my web designers saw St. Luke’s Health System’s website, they called me and said, “call the lawyers!” because they’ve copied it exactly. I’m not somebody who believes in that sort of thing; I find it very flattering to be copied.

Just a few days later, UCLA launched their transparent pricing website. And it’s my website. It looks just like the Surgery Center of Oklahoma’s website. And we also find that very flattering and very interesting.

I’ve told people all over the United States that there are a lot of physicians and facilities that are attracted to the delivery of health care in a free market model because it’s the right thing to do. It’s what every other industry in the country does. They seek out mutually beneficial exchange, not “what can we get away with?” Of course there are companies that do that in all industries, but healthcare is known for “what can we get away with?” and not a mutually beneficial exchange. We are changing that, I believe.

I think there will be more and more people that come to this party kicking and screaming, but they’ll come because the free market is very unforgiving and those who aren’t seen as delivering a value – those who are focused on maximizing revenue, not delivering value – are going to be in trouble as this free market model continues to proliferate all over the United States.

We welcome St. Luke’s Health System in Pennsylvania and the University of California Los Angeles and any others that want to copy our website and display pricing online for the benefit of patients all over the United States.

Thank you for joining us. We’ll see you next time.