The AAMC May 14 sent a letter detailing the Association’s priorities on efforts to improve price transparency in health care. The letter was sent to Senators Bill Cassidy, MD (R-La.), Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), Todd Young (R-Ind.), Michael Bennet (D-Colo.), Tom Carper (D-Del.), and Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.) in response to their request for information, which they sent earlier this spring.
The Association recommends the following to the Senate:
- Broaden the conversation about price transparency to include appropriate contextual information, such as quality metrics, risk adjustment, and longer periods of time to account for a complete episode of care, which will allow patients to accurately assess the quality and cost of their treatment;
- Engage with a variety of stakeholders, including patients, pharmaceutical manufacturers, and others to ensure broad consensus and buy-in from the health care industry. Importantly, engage with insurers who are the most appropriate party to provide a patient’s out-of-pocket costs;
- Make comprehensive claims data available to all providers;
- Take into account the unique costs of teaching hospitals to ensure these institutions are not inappropriately penalized for potentially higher costs due to their unique patient mix and standby units.
Neither the six senators who originated the request nor the Senate committees with jurisdiction over price transparency have yet announced potential next steps on the issue.