News release: “While health plans are developing tools to help consumers compare price and quality information across hospitals and physicians, the tools’ pervasiveness and usefulness are limited, according to a study released today by the Center for Studying Health System Change (HSC).

Responding to large employers’ interest in greater health care price and quality transparency, health plans generally provide some price information on inpatient and outpatient procedures and services, according to the study. However, the information often lacks specificity about individual providers, and its availability is often limited to enrollees in specific geographic areas. Likewise, few plans provide price information on services in physicians’ offices.

When providing quality information, health plans generally rely on third-party sources to package publicly available information instead of using information from their own claims, the study found.