Efforts to inject greater price transparency into healthcare continue to gain momentum. While insurers and private companies have tended to lead these efforts, what role can practice and hospital administrators play in increasing price transparency? Public Agenda, with support from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, recently conducted a national survey to explore the knowledge, behaviors and attitudes of consumers regarding price information in healthcare. Survey results showed that while people do use their insurers’ websites and call their insurers to find price information, third-party sites are not the most common sources consumers are using to find healthcare price information. Instead, people report that they more frequently seek price information through conversations with receptionists and other office staff and with doctors. The findings suggest that practice and hospital administrators can make active, positive contributions to price transparency.
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