Wide variation in cost and transparency of payer-negotiated prices for thyroid cancer care
Study finds up to 70-fold difference in price for some services across peer institutions, even after accounting for factors affecting cost of care delivery
Hospital price transparency is intended to help inform patients about the cost of services and procedures before they receive them. Since Jan. 1, 2021, hospitals in the U.S. have been required by The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) to provide pricing information online about items and services. A team of researchers from Brigham and Women's Hospital and Massachusetts Eye and Ear leveraged the newly available data to analyze price transparency and price variation for the treatment of thyroid cancer. The team found that both transparency and price varied widely, with only half of the cancer centers studied reporting disclosure of payer-negotiated prices and the cost of some services ranging by as much as 70-fold. Results are published in END