Capsule Commentary on Saloner et al., Price Transparency in Primary Care: Can Patients Learn About Costs When Scheduling an Appointment?

Excerpt

One of the promises of the recent push for high-deductible, consumer-driven health plans is that they can reduce health care costs and improve quality, because patients can comparison-shop. However, this promise can be fulfilled only if patients have access to price information and use it to make decisions. Primary care is an important area in which to examine price transparency, because it is easy for patients to plan ahead for and thus to perform cost comparisons. Additionally, primary care is widely used and is often subject to patients’ deductibles. At the same time, new requirements for insurers to cover certain preventive services without a co-pay adds to the confusion about how much typical primary care visits will cost. …