Ohio hospital CEOs played 'secret shopper' with their own customer service desks

A "secret shopper" exercise by hospital CEOs and CFOs in part inspired upcoming efforts by the Ohio Hospital Association to explain pricing and help patients compare facilities on cost and quality. The 18 trustees, top executives at hospitals ranging from small rural facilities to the Cleveland Clinic, posed as uninsured patients calling their own institutions and asked a scripted set of questions about what it would cost to get a procedure. "There were a lot of people surprised at how difficult it was to get pricing information," said Mike Abrams, CEO of the trade group for 219 hospitals and 13 systems.