Medscape January 16, 2020
Price transparency for healthcare procedures has been proposed as a means of allowing individuals to “shop around,” just as one would before purchasing any expensive item, such as a car or an airline ticket. However, despite a federal mandate that hospitals publish price lists, comparing prices among hospitals can be very confusing, and information remains limited, according to a new study.
The study evaluated one standard option for the treatment of prostate cancer ― intensity-modulated radiation therapy (IMRT). When researchers tried to compare prices for this treatment across 63 National Cancer Institute (NCI)–designated cancer centers, they found that information was largely inconsistent or missing.
For example, although most centers (84%) did publish the cost of the procedure on their website,...
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