Hospital group introduces statewide health care pricing information database

A new online tool aimed at centralizing hospital service prices from across the state was launched by the Virginia Hospital and Healthcare Association on Wednesday. The tool consolidates public access to online links to pricing at every hospital in Virginia in order to “help support patients’ health care decision-making,” according to the VHHA.

In 2019, the Trump administration used executive action to institute a rule that requires hospitals to publish health care service costs. Beginning in 2021, the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services put that mandate into effect, directing hospitals to “post online a machine-readable file and either a consumer-friendly file with at least 300 shoppable services or a price estimator tool so consumers can shop and compare costs between providers.”

Advocates of price transparency like the national group Power to the Patients argue that giving patients prices allows them to compare costs and shop around for services. Some modeling suggests that publishing the prices could save consumers money for some services.

However, research by Amitabh Chandra, director of health policy research at the Harvard Kennedy School, and others find that most people who reduce their health care expenses do so by reducing demand — getting less high-value health care — rather than price shopping. Experts also point out that these price lists are difficult for the general public to decipher since they’re often spreadsheets than can have thousands of entries.