To help patients afford local surgery, general surgeon Wade Naziri, MD, established an independent ASC that offers transparent, cash-based pricing, according to The Laurinburg Exchange.
"We'd have patients come in who wanted surgery but didn't have insurance and couldn’t afford it. So they were going overseas," Dr. Naziri told The Laurinburg Exchange. "We started thinking that perhaps we could do this here."
Dr. Naziri's Southern Surgical Outpatient Surgery Center in Greenville, S.C., charges $12,000 for bariatric and general laparoscopic surgeries — the same kind of operation that led to a $54,000 out-of-network hospital bill for one of his patients.
He posts prices online for these and other procedures. For gallbladder surgery, Southern Surgical Outpatient Surgery Center charges a flat fee of $7,500, which includes anesthesia and facility fees. Anesthesia and facility fees are common contributors to "surprise" medical bills.
Click here to read more about Dr. Naziri's push for price transparency.