When attempting to use transparency data to benchmark facility (hospital and ambulatory surgery center) pricing, Plato's Allegory of the Cave draws a stark parallel to how the Payer Price Transparency files have deviated from their original intent. In Plato's allegory, prisoners chained in a cave see only the shadows on the wall, mistaking them for reality. These distorted shadows are a far cry from the objects casting them.
The facility rates in Payer Transparency in Coverage files (or TIC files) often do not reflect the rates that the original payer-provider contracts would produce, and therefore are only part of the answer to hospital price research.
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