Hospital Price Transparency Study Round 3

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Our health care system consumes vast economic resources without producing commensurate health benefits. Employers, as purchasers of health benefits, have typically not played an active role in promoting the value of care or agreed on a strategy for doing it.

While the report from round 2 of the hospital price transparency study sheds light on hospitals in 25 states, work remains to be done. In Round 3, RAND expanded the scope of our analysis to include additional self-funded employers.

Read the Report

  • Exterior of a hospital building reflecting the sky off its glass, photo by Arkadiusz Wargula/Getty Images

    Private Health Plans Pay Hospitals 247% of What Medicare Would Pay

    Employers are the largest source of U.S. health insurance, but a lack of price transparency makes it hard for them to assess the costs of hospital services. An analysis of hospital spending by private insurers finds that prices are on average almost two and a half times more than what Medicare would pay.