What Type of Price Transparency Do We Need in Health Care?
Authors: Austin Frakt, Ateev Mehrotra
Journal: Annals of Internal Medicine (2019)

Ideas and Opinions16 April 2019What Type of Price Transparency Do We Need in Health Care?Austin Frakt, PhD and Ateev Mehrotra, MD, MPHAustin Frakt, PhDVA Boston Healthcare System, Boston University School of Public Health, and Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston, Massachusetts (A.F.) and Ateev Mehrotra, MD, MPHHarvard Medical School and Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Boston, Massachusetts (A.M.)Author, Article, and Disclosure Informationhttps://doi.org/10.7326/M19-0534 SectionsAboutFull TextPDF ToolsAdd to favoritesDownload CitationsTrack CitationsPermissions ShareFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditEmail Under new U.S. Department of Health and Human Services rules, hospitals must post prices for all of their services as of 1 January 2019. This federal mandate is just the latest government foray in price transparency. More than one half of states has passed some form of price transparency legislation (1). The growing bipartisan demand for price transparency taps into frustration with high health care prices in the United States, the confusing way prices are communicated, and exorbitant "surprise bills" when a patient inadvertently sees an out-of-network provider. One hope is that communicating prices will cause patients to shop for ...References1. Whaley C, SchneiderChafen J, Pinkard S, Kellerman G, Bravata D, Kocher R, et al. Association between availability of health service prices and payments for these services. JAMA. 2014;312:1670-6. [PMID: 25335149] doi:10.1001/jama.2014.13373 CrossrefMedlineGoogle Scholar2. Medicare Payment Advisory Commission; U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Hospital Inpatient and Outpatient Services: Assessing Payment Adequacy and Updating Payments. Report to the Congress: Medicare Payment Policy. Washington, DC: MedPAC; March 2017. Google Scholar3. Mehrotra A, Brannen T, Sinaiko AD. Use patterns of a state health care price transparency web site: what do patients shop for?. Inquiry. 2014;51. [PMID: 25466414] doi:10.1177/0046958014561496 CrossrefMedlineGoogle Scholar4. Hibbard JH, Greene J, Sofaer S, Firminger K, Hirsh J. An experiment shows that a well-designed report on costs and quality can help consumers choose high-value health care. Health Aff (Millwood). 2012;31:560-8. [PMID: 22392666] doi:10.1377/hlthaff.2011.1168 CrossrefMedlineGoogle Scholar5. Mehrotra A, Dean KM, Sinaiko AD, Sood N. Americans support price shopping for health care, but few actually seek out price information. Health Aff (Millwood). 2017;36:1392-400. [PMID: 28784731] doi:10.1377/hlthaff.2016.1471 CrossrefMedlineGoogle Scholar6. Frakt A. How common procedures became 20 percent cheaper for many Californians. The New York Times. 9 August 2016:A3. Google Scholar7. Whaley C, Sood S, Michael Chernew ME, Vu L, Metcalfe L, Mehrotra A. Paying patients to switch: impact of a rewards program on choice of providers, prices, and utilization. Health Aff (Millwood). 2019;38:440-7. doi:10.1377/hlthaff.2018.05068 CrossrefMedlineGoogle Scholar8. Azar AM. Remarks on value-based transformation to the Federation of American Hospitals. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. 5 March 2018. Accessed at www.hhs.gov/about/leadership/secretary/speeches/2018-speeches/remarks-on-value-based-transformation-to-the-federation-of-american-hospitals.html on 2 March 2019. Google Scholar9. Bluth R. Price transparency in medicine faces stiff opposition—from hospitals and doctors. Kaiser Health News. 25 July 2017. Accessed at https://khn.org/news/price-transparency-in-medicine-faces-stiff-opposition-from-hospitals-and-doctors on 2 March 2019. Google Scholar10. Wilson Pecci A. Companies team to provide RX pricing info at the point of care. HealthLeaders. 13 November 2017. Accessed at www.healthleadersmedia.com/innovation/companies-team-provide-rx-pricing-info-point-care on 2 March 2019. Google Scholar Author, Article, and Disclosure InformationAffiliations: VA Boston Healthcare System, Boston University School of Public Health, and Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston, Massachusetts (A.F.)Harvard Medical School and Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Boston, Massachusetts (A.M.)Disclaimer: The contents of this commentary do not represent the views of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, the U.S. government, Boston University, or Harvard University.Disclosures: Disclosures can be viewed at www.acponline.org/authors/icmje/ConflictOfInterestForms.do?msNum=M19-0534.Corresponding Author: Austin Frakt, PhD, VA Boston Healthcare System, 150 South Huntington Avenue, 152H, Boston, MA 02130; e-mail, [email protected]edu.Current Author Addresses: Dr. Frakt: VA Boston Healthcare System, 150 South Huntington Avenue, 152H, Boston, MA 02130.Dr. Mehrotra: Harvard Medical School, 180 Longwood Avenue, Boston, MA 02115.Author Contributions: Conception and design: A. Frakt.Analysis and interpretation of the data: A. Frakt.Drafting of the article: A. Frakt, A. Mehrotra.Critical revision of the article for important intellectual content: A. Frakt.Final approval of the article: A. Frakt, A. Mehrotra.Administrative, technical, or logistic support: A. Frakt.This article was published at Annals.org on 2 April 2019. 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Mire, MD, and Jason M. Goldman, MD, for the Medical Practice and Quality Committee of the American College of Physicians* 16 April 2019Volume 170, Issue 8Page: 561-562KeywordsCurrent procedural terminologyDisclosureHealth careHealth care providersLaboratory testsLegislationMedicareOutpatient clinicsPatient advocacyPatients ePublished: 2 April 2019 Issue Published: 16 April 2019 PDF downloadLoading ...