Achieving Price Transparency for Consumers:
A Toolkit for Hospitals
With the rise in higher-deductible health plans and coinsurance, Americans are paying an increasingly greater proportion of their health care costs out of pocket. This means that consumer demand for meaningful and transparent price information will only continue to grow. To meet this demand, hospitals and health systems must take a critical look at where they currently fall on the price transparency spectrum and take steps to improve how they communicate pricing information with patients and their community.
In support of this effort, the American Hospital Association (AHA) has developed “Achieving Price Transparency for Consumers: A Toolkit for Hospitals.” Our goal is for this resource to spark conversation and action by allowing hospitals to assess their current efforts and learn from others through case examples and sample price transparency tools.
We will update the toolkit with new price transparency tools and resources as they become available. If you have any resources or case examples you’d like to share, please contact us here.
Price Transparency
- Introduction and Action Items
Read more about the impetus behind this toolkit and the action steps hospitals can take today to increase price transparency. - Self-Assessment Checklist
Take this brief quiz to identify where your organization is doing well and where it may need to improve.
Case Examples
Learn from other hospitals’ insights about their own work in price transparency in these case studies; includes contact information for follow-up interest.
- Augusta Health
- Baptist Health System
- Billings Clinic
- Holy Cross Hospital
- Littleton Regional Healthcare
- North Shore-Long Island Jewish Health System
- North Valley Hospital
- Northcrest Medical Center
- St. Joseph Medical Center
Sample Web-Based Tools
Review examples of websites from hospitals, health systems, and state hospital associations that allow consumers to find price estimates.
- Baptist Memorial Health Care | Expense Navigator
- FAIR Health | Consumer Cost Lookup
- Geisinger Health System | My Estimate
- HealthPartners | Cost of Care
- Maine Health Data Organization | HealthCost
- Spectrum Health | Priority Health
- Maricopa Integrated Health System | CopaCare Estimate
- Washington State Hospital Association | Hospital Pricing
- Wisconsin PricePoint System
Resources
Browse and tap into this collection of price transparency tools, documents and publications to support your efforts.
- AHA Secret Shopper Exercise
- HFMA | Preparing for Price Transparency: A Five Point Checklist
- HFMA | Patient Financial Communication Best Practices
- HFMA | Price Transparency in Health Care Task Force Report
- HFMA | Understanding Healthcare Prices: A Consumer Guide
- AHA Understanding Hospital Billing and Collection Statement of Principles and Guidelines, 2012
- AHA Hospital Pricing Transparency, 2006
- AHA Trendwatch | Price Transparency Efforts Accelerate: What Hospitals and Other Stakeholders Are Doing to Support Consumers