The Controversy over Price Transparency: Patients and Plastic Surgeons Disagree

The No Surprises Act (NSA) went into effect on January 1, 2022. This federal law is designed to minimize surprise bills for emergency care, out of network (OON) care, and care for uninsured or self-pay individuals. To achieve these goals, the NSA relies heavily on physicians providing cost estimates to patients prior to administering care. Because healthcare is often price-opaque, this study was conducted to assess physician and patient attitudes toward price transparency in plastic surgery and aesthetic/self-pay medicine.

Two cohorts of providers received a survey asking whether and how their practice offers pricing information prior to a consultation and their views regarding the NSA. Patients who had previously used an online price estimator tool also received a survey regarding their experience and accuracy of estimates received online.

Most surveyed providers do not share the costs of their services online, whereas patients had a positive experience when receiving estimates of medical services before consultation. Although many providers cited the inaccuracy of price estimator tools as a reason not to incorporate them into their website, most patients reported that their final cost of service was close to (or even less than) the estimate received online prior to the consultation.

This study suggests that price transparency is a patient satisfier. Therefore, plastic surgeons should exercise price transparency to be compliant with federal law and to gain a competitive advantage in the market, as the decision to implement price transparency can be mutually beneficial to patients and providers.