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POLICY BRIEF article

Front. Health Serv.
Sec. Cost and Resource Allocation
Volume 4 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/frhs.2024.1379416

Enhancing Healthcare Cost Transparency: Assessing Implementation Challenges, Criticisms, and Alternative Solutions

Provisionally accepted
Sonia Ali Malik Sonia Ali Malik *
  • University of Utah Hospital, Salt Lake City, Utah, United States

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    The United States healthcare system grapples with a staggering estimated waste of $935 billion, with pricing failure contributing a substantial $240.5 billion. This paper explores an innovative solution to combat rapidly escalating healthcare costs by proposing measures that would complement the mandated disclosure of healthcare prices. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) introduced a significant rule for hospital pricing, effective January 1, 2021, aiming to enhance transparency and empower patients to make value-based decisions. However, this rule has faced criticisms on various policy grounds which this examination delves into. To address these concerns and enhance the effectiveness of price transparency, this paper suggests complementary and/or alternative strategies and solutions while also examining the engagement of enrollees in price transparency tools.

    Keywords: cost, Price transparency, CMS, benchmarks, healthcare

    Received: 06 Feb 2024; Accepted: 11 Jun 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Malik. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Sonia Ali Malik, University of Utah Hospital, Salt Lake City, Utah, United States

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.