Report details stakeholders' roles in price transparency

Hospitals and health plans should serve as front-line resources on price transparency for patients, while employers and the government also should help, according to a report by a coalition of groups led by the Healthcare Financial Management Association.

The task force called on health plans to communicate information to their members about estimated prices for various healthcare services; patients' estimated out-of-pocket responsibilities; whether a particular service provider is in network; and relevant outcomes, safety and patient satisfaction data.

For Medicare and Medicaid beneficiaries, the task force recommended that government agencies adopt a similar approach.

The responsibility should fall on providers when dealing with uninsured and out-of-network patients, the task force said. And employers should give their employees access to transparency tools.

The American Hospital Association was one of 23 groups on the task force, which also included America's Health Insurance Plans, the American College of Physician Executives and the Leapfrog Group.

“Up until now, there's been a lot of finger-pointing in the industry, but this is a time when we all got in the room and hashed it out,” HFMA CEO Joseph Fifer said.

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