Peter Ubel, MD, is the senior author for an online first research letter in the category of Health Reform in JAMA Internal Medicine. The letter, published December 4, 2017, entitled "Finding Health Care Prices Online—How Difficult Is It to Be an Informed Healthcare Consumer?", reports on the lack of transparency finding the price of medical procedures online.
The team findings suggest that there is significant room for improvement in providing consumers with ready access to health care prices online. In the article they conclude:
"Given the increasing number of Americans facing high out-of-pocket health care expenses, we need to promote policies that make it easier for them to determine the price of their medical care in time to inform their health care choices."
The publication by Dr. Ubel, along with the lead author Allison Kratka who is a Duke medical student, has been picked up by 15 news outlets including the Los Angeles Times and US News and World Report. The altmetric score is already 140.
Citation: Allison Kratka, Charlene A. Wong, Riley Herrmann, Kathryn Hong, Aleena Karediya, Iris Yang, Peter A. Ubel. Finding Health Care Prices Online—How Difficult Is It to Be an Informed Healthcare Consumer? JAMA Intern Med. Published online December 04, 2017. doi:10.1001/jamainternmed.2017.6841
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Peter Ubel, MD, is a DGIM Professor of Medicine, physician, and behavioral scientist. His research and writing explores the mixture of rational and irrational forces that affect health, happiness and the way our society functions.
Read more about Dr. Ubel in this faculty spotlight. Follow him on Twitter @PeterUbel