The following is a summary of “Poor accessibility to consumer pricing exists for elective hernia repair surgery,” published in the NOVEMBER 2023 issue of Surgery by Gaffney, et al.

The federal mandate for hospital price transparency aimed to enhance consumer accessibility to healthcare information. For a study, researchers sought to focus on evaluating hospitals’ compliance with the regulations concerning elective hernia repairs.

The research involved searches across different hospital systems to obtain the cost of elective hernia repairs, utilizing the author’s health insurance. Data collection encompassed the time required to access the cost estimate tool, the duration to obtain price estimates, and the observed price ranges. Given the variability in prices for inguinal and ventral hernia repairs across the state’s medical centers, the study sought to discern patterns in compliance.

Fourteen medical centers nationwide were included in the analysis, all equipped with a cost estimate calculator. The study found that the average success rate of obtaining a cost estimate for inguinal hernia repair was 48%, indicating a moderate level of compliance. In contrast, the average success rate for obtaining a cost estimate for ventral hernia repair was notably lower at 12%. Among the successful searches for pricing, considerable variation was observed in the accessed cost estimates for hernia procedures.

Despite the federal mandate for hospital price transparency, the study suggested that online cost-estimate calculators were underperforming, particularly in elective hernia repairs. The findings highlighted a significant gap in the accessibility of cost estimates for patients undergoing these procedures. Addressing the deficiency was crucial to ensuring that patients can make informed decisions about their healthcare, emphasizing the need for more effective and accessible cost-estimate tools for elective hernia repair procedures.

Source: americanjournalofsurgery.com/article/S0002-9610(23)00322-7/fulltext