Efforts to spur patient price shopping by providing access to price transparency tools have been met with limited success. One potential reason is the absence of financial incentives. This paper uses data from a large employer that implemented a price transparency platform and subsequently implemented a reference pricing program for laboratory and diagnostic imaging tests. We find no price shopping effects when the price transparency tool is offered alone. However, combining price transparency with reference pricing leads to significant shifts in consumer choice of facility, resulting in a 27 percent reduction in the average price paid per laboratory test and a 13 percent reduction in price paid per imaging test. A variety of public and purchaser initiatives have sought to further the development and adoption of price transparency tools. Our results imply that these tools will capture the attention of consumers, and influence their behavior, only if patients have strong financial incentives to care about prices.

中文翻译：

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消费者对单价透明度的回应与价格透明度与参考定价的结合

通过提供价格透明性工具来刺激患者购买价格的努力取得了有限的成功。潜在的原因之一是缺乏经济激励。本文使用来自大型雇主的数据，该雇主实施了价格透明平台，随后实施了实验室和诊断成像测试的参考定价程序。当单独提供价格透明度工具时，我们发现没有价格购物的影响。但是，将价格透明性与参考价格相结合，会导致消费者对设施的选择发生重大变化，从而使每次实验室测试的平均价格降低了27％，而每次成像测试的价格则降低了13％。各种公共和购买者计划都试图进一步开发和采用价格透明性工具。