Air date: July 18, 2010

Host: Steve Bogdewic, PhD

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Interview: Ryan Thompson, MD, internist, Boston, MA

Here’s the scene: you’re at the doctor’s office. She recommends that you get an MRI and some blood tests to find the cause of some symptoms you’ve been experiencing.

But first you have a question: How much will these tests cost, you ask? Or maybe you don’t even ask.

It’s one of the biggest ways the business of health care is different from most other businesses: it’s hard to know what something is going to cost until the bill actually arrives.

There’s a new course at Harvard Medical School designed to teach future doctors the cost of the treatments they’ll end up ordering.

Dr. Ryan Thompson organized the course using the game show "The Price is Right" as his model. He spoke with Sound Medicine’s Dr. Steve Bogdewic.

Additional Resources:

• NYT article Teaching Physicians the Price of Care.
• Find info about healthcare costs at the Kaiser Family Foundation.