The Effect of Paid Price Information on Image and Procedure Ordering Rates

The investigators' study team worked with Atrius Health (ATRIUS) to design a physician price transparency (PPT) intervention aimed at providing primary and specialty care physicians with price information on commonly-ordered outpatient procedures (e.g., Pap smears, ECHOs, colonoscopies) and imaging tests (e.g., CTs and MRIs). The 2014 PPT intervention was built upon a pilot that ATRIUS conducted in 2010. Starting January 1, 2014, ATRIUS randomized its physicians to 3 different study arms, those receiving:

1. No price display for common outpatient procedures or imaging tests,
2. A single price for each procedure or test, or
3. A pair of prices for each procedure or test (that allowed physicians to compare prices that would be charged if the test was conducted at a facility within the ATRIUS network versus outside of it).

The mode for delivering this PPT intervention was ATRIUS' common electronic medical record (EMR), which all of its physicians use to place all orders related to outpatient procedures and imaging studies.

The investigators used a blocked randomized-controlled study design to quantitatively and qualitatively evaluate the effect of No, Single and Paired procedure and imaging test price information on: rate of overall procedure and test orders, clinically inappropriate orders, and appropriate orders.

The investigators used ATRIUS' administrative and EMR Data Repository to assess the quantitative outcomes proposed within this study. This repository contains the information the investigators need to block randomize at the practice level and to describe practices (e.g., size, location) and physicians (e.g., age, gender, specialty). It also captures all of the actions that physicians take when caring for patients (all orders are placed through their common EMR) and collects all of the information needed to assess clinical care quality using Healthcare Effectiveness Data and Information Set (HEDIS) measures. Data from this system have been used in numerous prior analyses of healthcare quality.