The report uses claims data for Americans with employer-sponsored insurance to analyze variation in prices nationwide for a set of 300 “shoppable” procedures, such as a mammogram, knee replacement or MRI. Other key findings from the Thomson Reuters report include the following:
• Price variation for common medical procedures costs Americans with employer-sponsored insurance as much as $36 billion a year.
• A major driver of price variation is site of service: Prices vary significantly by care setting and the percentage of services done in the hospital versus an office setting.
• A review of published literature tracking the relationship between price and quality of care reveals no positive correlation between price and quality.
• Currently, 34 states require reporting of hospital charges or reimbursement rates, and another seven states have established a forum for voluntary price reporting.
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