“We’re hoping that [hospitals] are interested in at least having a conversation with us about [pricing] options,” Dallas’ human resources director Molly Carroll told The Dallas Morning News.
Dallas-based Holmes Murphy, an insurance broker and consulting firm, has worked on the initiative for the past year. Holmes Murphy President Den Bishop said the approach aims to give cities better transparency and lower inflation in their medical bills. “We are just asking, at what percent of Medicare are you willing to sell your services? It gives the purchaser, the city, full indexed transparency on what the cost difference is between the hospitals.”
The 31 municipal governments in the North Texas Coalition represent roughly 40,000 government employees, according to the report.
Gary Brock, President of the North Texas operations of Dallas-based Baylor Scott & White, said Baylor welcomed dialog but would not accept the municipalities’ request for bids. Other area hospitals have yet to respond to the coalition’s proposal.
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