As consumers increasingly shop around before committing to a healthcare provider, hospitals need to think like retailers to retain their business according to a PWC Health Research Institute (HRI) report. The report, Price check in the MRI aisle: Hospitals adopt a retail approach to win customers, found hospitals are losing customers to retail clinics, standalone surgical centers, and walk-up medical facilities where their out-of-pocket costs may be lower.
In order to better compete, PwC concludes hospitals need to increase price transparency and accessibility, while making also making fees defensible.
