Did you expect otherwise?

Only about 25% of internal medicine residents say they know where to find costs estimates for tests and treatments and that they can share those estimates with patients, according to a survey by the American College of Physicians.

The cross-sectional survey questioned more than 18,000 U.S. internal medicine residents who took the Internal Medicine In-Training Examination in October 2012. The study was published in the June issue of Academic Medicine: The Journal of the Association of American Medical Colleges.

“I was surprised that so few of the residents knew where to find costs of tests and treatments and that so few of them incorporated costs into any clinical decision-making,” says study co-author Cynthia Smith, MD, ACP’s Senior Physician Educator. “Patients are picking up more of those costs out of pocket and so they start to ask ‘what are the relative costs?’”

Dr. Smith shouldn’t be surprised.  Over two years ago, Massachusetts passed a law–the first in the country–requiring health care facilities to make prices available to consumers.  The effective date of the requirement was October 1, 2014.  The result?

The Pioneer Institute reports:

It’s very difficult for Massachusetts consumers to get information on the price of medical procedures, according to a survey of 22 out of approximately 66 Massachusetts acute care hospitals and 10 free-standing clinics.