Price transparency tools don’t necessarily lead to lower health care costs

Description

Abstract: With increasing price transparency in health care, patients have more options than ever for comparing prices. This article discusses a recent JAMA study that looked at the outpatient spending of two national employers offering their workers an online price transparency tool. Researchers found, among other things, that offering a price transparency tool wasn’t associated with lower outpatient spending, even for employees with higher deductibles. The study shows that transparency may have far less impact than widely believed.