The requirement that hospitals post transparent information about their prices is not yet leading consumers to do more price shopping before obtaining care.
Instead, to the degree that hospitals are fulfilling the requirement at all, the data they share is mostly used by other hospitals and insurers to aid in their negotiations with one another.
Even when hospitals post the required data – many still do not – that data often is not presented in a way that is useful, or even comprehensible, for consumers. In addition, it can be difficult for consumers to make apples-to-apples comparisons between providers because of how those providers list and bundle the services for which they post their prices.
The price transparency requirement was introduced despite concern that consumers would not use such information to compare prices before seeking care. At least so far, that appears to be the case.
Learn more about hospital price transparency requirements and how the data hospitals post is and is not used by consumers, their competitors, and insurers from the KFF Health report “Trump Required Hospitals To Post Their Prices for Patients. Mostly It’s the Industry Using the Data.”