In a piece for HIT Leaders & News [1], Bruce Haupt of ClearBalance discusses the consumerism movement and the shift towards health care cost transparency. He notes that more Americans are taking the initiative to find options for better-value care, and references HCFO-funded work from Carolin Hagelskamp and David Schleifer of Public Agenda that found [2] 56 percent of Americans have tried to determine out-of-pocket costs before receiving care, but only 21 percent have compared prices across different health care providers. Haupt cites another piece from Public Agenda that found [3] most Americans do not think that price and quality are associated. He concludes by offering some of the researchers’ suggestions for engaging consumers in the price transparency discussion, such as helping them understand that prices vary and how to find price information, and extending patient engagement efforts to people caring for others and those who receive regular medical care.
Links:
[1] http://www.hitleadersandnews.com/consumers-want-access-to-healthcare-price-information/
[2] http://www.publicagenda.org/pages/how-much-will-it-cost
[3] http://content.healthaffairs.org/content/35/4/647.abstract
[4] http://www.hcfo.org/topics/consumer-behavior
[5] http://www.hcfo.org/topics/price-data-and-transparency