Many hospitals provided a price estimator tool for patients, the JAMA study found, but far fewer provided an easy-to-use file with the prices the hospital negotiated with different insurers.
“Because patient-oriented price estimator tools make prices visible only for a given patient and insurance plan and not to payers or the public, selective compliance may fail to expose abuses of market power, affect price negotiations, or support broad analysis of price variation to the extent intended by the transparency initiative,” the study authors write.
