Pediatric Price Transparency: Still Opaque With Opportunities for Improvement.

ABSTRACT:

Objectives

Price transparency is gaining importance as families' portion of health care costs rise. We describe (1) online price transparency data for pediatric care on children's hospital Web sites and state-based price transparency Web sites, and (2) the consumer experience of obtaining an out-of-pocket estimate from children's hospitals for a common procedure.

Methods

From 2015 to 2016, we audited 45 children's hospital Web sites and 38 state-based price transparency Web sites, describing availability and characteristics of health care prices and personalized cost estimate tools. Using secret shopper methodology, we called children's hospitals and submitted online estimate requests posing as a self-paying family requesting an out-of-pocket estimate for a tonsillectomy-ade

SUBMITTER: Faherty LJ 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6345274 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature