Public unawareness of physician reimbursement.

Objectives: To assess subjects' perception of healthcare costs and physician reimbursement.

Background: The lack of transparency in healthcare reimbursement leaves patients and physicians unaware of the distribution of health care dollars.

Methods: Anonymous survey-based study by means of convenience sampling. Participants were asked to estimate the total hospital cost and physician fee for one of the six medical procedures (n = 250).

Results: On the average for all 6 procedures, patients estimated the total cost was $36,177, ∼1,540% more than the actual Medicare rate of $7,333. Similarly, patients estimated the physician fee was $7,694, 1,474% more the actual Medicare rate of $589.

Conclusion: Patients' perception of the total cost and physician fee are significantly higher than Medicare rates for all 6 procedures. This lack of insight may have widespread negative implications on the patient-physician relationship, on political trends to reduce physician reimbursement, and on a physician's desire to continue practicing medicine.