Healthcare industry leaders point fingers on lowering prices

Hospital executives love to brag about all the progress they’re making cutting unnecessary costs out of their operations. As a reporter covering hospital finances, I hear it all the time. So-and-so system managed to get $200 million or $300 million slimmer in three years. So what does that mean for patients? How do hospitals’ cost-cutting efforts translate into lower prices?

I decided to explore the subject for this article. Think of it as one reporter’s quest to learn what hospitals and other sectors of healthcare view as their role in bringing hospital prices down, especially after rounds of aggressive cost-cutting. Spoiler alert: Almost no one shared practical steps that their own industries could take. Instead, there...