Access by Patients to Healthcare Prices Results in Lower Expenditures

Health economists believe that patients would make better healthcare decisions if they had access to the actual price of medical services. In California, 18 large, employer-sponsored, self-insured healthcare plans granted price transparency access (by telephone or Internet) to about 500,000 covered employees between 2010 and 2013. Investigators assessed healthcare costs for employees who did or did not use the price transparency system to search for information on prices of laboratory tests, complex imaging procedures (magnetic resonance imaging or computed tomography), and office visits.

The proportions of patients who searched for prices of laboratory tests, complex imaging procedures, and office visits before receiving these services were…