title: The health care value transparency movement and its implications for radiology.
abstract: The US health care system is in the midst of disruptive changes intended to expand access, improve outcomes, and lower costs. As part of this movement, a growing number of stakeholders have advocated dramatically increasing consumer transparency into the quality and price of health care services. The authors review the general movement toward American health care value transparency within the public, private, and nonprofit sectors, with an emphasis on those initiatives most relevant to radiology. They conclude that radiology, along with other "ancillary services," has been a major focus of early efforts to enhance consumer price transparency. By contrast, radiology as a field remains in the "middle of the pack" with regard to quality transparency. There is thus the danger that radiology value transparency in its current form will stimulate primarily price-based competition, erode provider profit margins, and disincentivize quality. The authors conclude with suggested actions radiologists can take to ensure that a more optimal balance is struck between quality transparency and price transparency, one that will enable true value-based competition among radiologists rather than commoditization.
authors.affiliation: Evolent Health, Arlington, Virginia. Electronic address: daniel.j.durand@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Daniel J
authors.initials: DJ
authors.lastname: Durand
authors.affiliation: The Russell H. Morgan Department of Radiology and Radiological Science, Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland.
authors.forename: Anand K
authors.initials: AK
authors.lastname: Narayan
authors.affiliation: Applied Imaging Science Laboratory, Department of Radiology, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts.
authors.forename: Frank J
authors.initials: FJ
authors.lastname: Rybicki
authors.affiliation: Department of Quality and Safety, American College of Radiology, Reston, Virginia.
authors.forename: Judy
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Burleson
authors.affiliation: The Russell H. Morgan Department of Radiology and Radiological Science, Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland.
authors.forename: Paul
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Nagy
authors.affiliation: Weill Cornell Medical College, Cornell University, New York, New York.
authors.forename: Geraldine
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: McGinty
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology and Imaging Sciences, Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, Georgia.
authors.forename: Richard
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Duszak
mesh_terms: D054626:Consumer Health Information / Q000458:organization & administration*; D003695:Delivery of Health Care / Q000458:organization & administration; D030881:Disclosure; D033181:Information Dissemination / Q000379:methods*; D008389:Marketing of Health Services / Q000458:organization & administration*; D017146:Models, Organizational; D011871:Radiology / Q000458:organization & administration*; D014481:United States
keywords: Quality; pay for performance; transparency; value; value-based contracting