A group of doctors in California has become the largest private practice in the country to go public with its prices for medical procedures. Breaking with the notion that price-shopping demeans professional services, HealthCare Partners posted the price of 58 common procedures, from x-rays to flu shots, on its website last week, the LA Times reports.
The move was was prompted in part by increasing competition from walk-in clinics in drugstores and retailers, but it also reflects the reality that more patients are paying their own medical costs. Healthcare workers now predict a price war in the Southern California medical market.
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