Patients overspend on diagnostic tests when healthcare prices are high and vary significantly from provider to provider, according to a research brief from UnitedHealth Group.
In the brief, UnitedHealth examined price variation among seven groups of common diagnostic tests: MRI, ultrasound, CT scan, pathology, microscopic examination, radioisotope scan and function studies, and mammography.
UnitedHealth found spending on the seven tests totaled $37.4 billion in 2017. The price difference paid by its UnitedHealthcare commercial health plans and their members varied up to 20-fold for more than 12.5 million diagnostic tests. For example, the price of an echocardiogram varied nine-fold across providers, from $210 to $1,830 in 2017.
“If the price variation of these diagnostic tests was reduced, consumers would have saved $18.5 billion in 2017,” according to UnitedHealth. “Reducing higher prices to amounts already agreed to by many providers can help lower the total cost of healthcare.”
Date: May 29, 2019
Source: Beckers Hospital Review