The United States spends nearly $6 trillion a year on healthcare, according to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, more than twice as much as any other wealthy nation.
One strategy to reduce health costs is to require hospitals to publicly post their prices. The Trump administration and Wyoming lawmakers believe this will give consumers the option to shop around. Wyoming hospitals are required by law to do just that starting this July.
But a Colorado nonprofit is taking it one step further. The Center for Improving Value in Health Care has created a new tool to organize and search hospital procedure prices.
Amanda Kim, director of state initiatives at the nonprofit, said its new Hospital Price Transparency Database, which includes prices posted by more than 80 hospitals across Colorado, can help patients and policymakers make good data-based decisions.
"[We] cannot attest to the accuracy of the prices that those hospitals are posting," Kim said. "We can attest to the data reflecting what is posted by the hospitals."
The new tool complements data available through the center's All Payer Claims Database, which tracks what insurers pay for covered services.
Prices can vary greatly. A heart stress test can cost anywhere from $280 to $3,100 depending on where it happens. A traditional birth without complications can set families back anywhere from $5,000 to $17,000.
Since 2021, Colorado hospitals have been required to post clear and accessible pricing online for their services, but Kim pointed out that finding the prices is not easy. Patients have to go to each hospital’s website, search for their price sheets, then download and convert the data into a readable format. The Center's new tool does the work for you.
Kim noted, in addition to serving patients, the data can be useful for lawmakers, employers, government agencies and other stakeholders.
"Such as evaluating cost drivers, identifying price disparities, and assessing the impact of price transparency rules," Kim said.
By 2034, health spending in the U.S. is projected to reach $9 trillion, or one-fifth of the total economy. The American Hospital Association contended rising costs are due to more patients utilizing services and high-cost prescription drugs, not rising hospital prices.
High salaries for doctors working inside hospitals, who earn twice as much as their European counterparts, add an extra $100 billion to the national healthcare bill, according to the Center for Economic and Policy Research.
