Sze-jung Wu|Gosia Sylwestrzak|Chiman Shah|Andrea DeVries
Price Transparency For MRIs Increased Use Of Less Costly Providers And Triggered Provider Competition
Wilmington University
encourage patients select highvalue providers insurerinitiated price transparency program focused elective advanced imaging procedures implemented patients least one outpatient magnetic resonance imaging mri scan 2010 2012 divided according membership commercial health plans participating program intervention group nonparticipating commercial health plans reference group similar us geographic regions patients intervention group informed price differences among available mri facilities given option selecting different providers patients program resulted 220 cost reduction 187 percent per test decrease use hospitalbased facilities 53 percent 2010 45 percent 2012 price variation hospital nonhospital facilities intervention group reduced 30 percent implementation nonparticipating members residing intervention areas also observed price reductions indicates increased price competition among providers program significantly reduced imaging costs suggests patients select lowerprice facilities informed available alternatives