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Who Uses a Price Transparency Tool? Implications for Increasing Consumer Engagement
Rebecca A Gourevitch1, Sunita Desai1, Andrew L Hicks1
11 Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA.
Summary
Consumer use of healthcare price transparency tools remains low. Younger individuals, those in higher income areas, and people with higher deductibles were more likely to use these tools, especially those with moderate medical spending.
Area of Science:
- Health Services Research
- Health Economics
- Consumer Health Informatics
Background:
- Consumer engagement with healthcare price transparency tools is critically low despite their availability.
- Effective strategies are needed to increase awareness and utilization of these cost-saving resources.
Purpose of the Study:
- To identify demographic and healthcare utilization factors associated with the use of a specific price transparency tool.
- To inform the development of targeted interventions to promote greater consumer engagement with healthcare pricing information.
Main Methods:
- A cross-sectional study analyzed the usage of the Truven Treatment Cost Calculator among employees of two large companies.
- Multivariate logistic regression identified factors correlating with tool usage frequency over a 12-month period.
- Analysis included over 70,000 families, examining sign-on frequency and user demographics.
Main Results:
- Only 11% of eligible families used the tool at least once, and 1% used it three or more times.
- Higher usage was linked to younger age, higher community income, and higher insurance deductibles.
- Families with moderate annual out-of-pocket medical expenses ($1000-$2779) showed increased tool utilization.
Conclusions:
- Utilization of healthcare price transparency tools is low and not consistently maintained.
- Employers and payers should implement strategies to boost consumer interest in healthcare price information, particularly for those with significant medical expenditures.
