title: Use patterns of a state health care price transparency web site: what do patients shop for?
abstract: To help people shop for lower cost providers, several states have created their own price transparency Web sites or passed legislation mandating health plans provide such information. New Hampshire's HealthCost Web site is on the forefront of such initiatives. Despite the growing interest in price transparency, little is known about such efforts, including how often these tools are used and for what reason. We examined the use of New Hampshire HealthCost over a 3-year period. Approximately 1% of the state's residents used the Web site, and the most common searches were for outpatient visits, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) or computed tomography (CT) scans, and emergency department visits. The results provide a cautionary note on the level of potential interest among consumers in this information but may guide others on practically what are the most "shop-able" services for patients.
authors.affiliation: Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA mehrotra@hcp.med.harvard.edu.
authors.forename: Ateev
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Mehrotra
authors.affiliation: New Hampshire Insurance Department, Concord, USA.
authors.forename: Tyler
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Brannen
authors.affiliation: Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, MA, USA.
authors.forename: Anna D
authors.initials: AD
authors.lastname: Sinaiko
mesh_terms: D003256:Community Participation; D003695:Delivery of Health Care / Q000191:economics*; D030881:Disclosure; D004469:Economics, Hospital; D006801:Humans; D020407:Internet; D008389:Marketing of Health Services; D008404:Massachusetts; D014481:United States
keywords: New Hampshire HealthCost; Web site; price shopping; price transparency; utilization