The researchers studied how employees of the Cerner Corporation, a health care consulting firm headquartered in Kansas City, Missouri, responded to an e-tool that sends customized messages about potential savings opportunities, price comparisons, and quality metrics associated with their high deductible health plan (HDHP). Using claims, survey, and utilization data, the researchers compared cost savings, employee characteristics, and quality of care for employees who opted to receive customized messages versus the comparison group of employees who did not. The goal of this project was to learn how employees covered by HDHPs respond to transparency interventions and to explore ways to encourage informed shopping for health care coverage.
This project was funded as part of the Foundation’s solicitation “Understanding the Use and Impact of Price Data in Health Care,” which supports empirical research studies that contribute to the knowledge base in this area, with the goal of providing reliable and generalizable evidence to inform policymakers and delivery system participants and to help accelerate progress toward using price information effectively.