What Is Price Transparency?
Price transparency is the principle of being accountable to patients by providing clear prices and high-quality data.
Why Is Price Transparency Important?
Data about prices, charges, and value that are not compared using the same vocabulary or that are not placed in an appropriate context may cause confusion about how people can identify out-of-pocket costs and determine the value of the services they are receiving. For information about prices, charges, and value to be comparable and understood, the AAMC recommends that providers give patients information that allows them to answer these two questions:
- What is the charge buying (type of service over what period of time)?
- What is the actual value of the product or service?
How Can I Learn More About Price Transparency?
Several institutions at the forefront of the price transparency effort have put together case studies describing the work they’ve completed. These resources are available on the Case Studies page.
In addition, the AAMC has compiled a number of resources from outside organizations for teaching hospitals to use as they educate their staff and work toward price transparency.
These resources are for teaching hospitals to use as they work toward price transparency. They include common definitions the AAMC encourages all teaching hospitals to adopt, a bibliography of price transparency news articles to provide context for the issue, a summary of state price transparency laws, a brief history of the hospital charge master (a comprehensive list of procedures and products that are billable to a hospital patient or the patient’s health insurance provider), a summary of existing consumer research on price transparency, and slides for institutions to use to educate their staff.
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Brief History of the Hospital Charge Description Master ("Charge Master")
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Comprehensive State-Specific Requirements for Information from Providers
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Price Transparency PowerPoint for Member Use (please log-in to view)
Price Transparency in the News
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Indiana Hospitals launch website to make medical costs more transparent.
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Blue Cross North Carolina’s price tool could shake up medical industry.
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Association between availability of health service prices and payments for these services.
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Same surgery, different price: Patient gets $15,000 bill second time.