In this episode, host Stacey Richter speaks with Sunita Desai, PhD, a health economist and assistant professor at NYU Grossman School of Medicine, about the real-world impact of price transparency in healthcare. They break down the intended progression from transparency to consumerism to lower costs and higher quality care—and why, in practice, that progression often stalls. Sunita shares key research on the barriers consumers face when trying to act on price information, and they discuss what it will take to make consumerism an effective force in healthcare.

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06:23 Why is everyone so interested in price transparency right now? 07:30 How does price transparency enable consumerism? 08:05 What are the two aspects to consumerism in order to enable it in health care? 11:01 Does access to price transparency tools lower costs and spending? 15:19 Why is there such low utilization of price transparency tools? 16:13 What’s the first barrier to using price transparency tools? 17:10 Why bypassing the physician at the point of care limits the use of price transparency tools. 17:53 EP284 with Carm Huntress.23:20 EP308 with Mark Fendrick, MD.23:31 How does reducing spending with high-deductible health plans negatively affect high-value health care? 25:23 “There is not a strong correlation between prices of providers and quality.” 28:48 How does a reduction in physician choices undermine price transparency? 29:30 “We owe that information to patients … it’s useful for patients to know what out-of-pocket costs they should expect.”