A Reminder Why the Transparency Conversation Has to Include More Than Price

With a recent executive order putting transparency back in focus, the healthcare industry has another opportunity to move past simply meeting requirements and create real value. Price transparency has been at the center of the conversation lately, and that is a good thing—patients and employers deserve to know what they’re buying costs. But as we wrote about in a recent blog, transparency should include more than price. If we want to help patients and employers make better healthcare decisions, we need to broaden the view beyond cost and include things like provider quality, whether the care fits the need, and what the outcomes actually are.

Price Isn’t the Full Story

Price alone doesn’t give you the whole picture. Just like you wouldn’t evaluate a provider based only on their fees, patients shouldn’t choose care just because it’s the least expensive. Knowing a procedure’s cost is helpful, but what matters just as much is what that cost means in your situation.

A procedure’s price doesn’t always reflect what you’ll end up paying, since things like coverage, network discounts, and deductibles can shift the total. And even if two providers charge the same amount, that doesn’t mean the care is equal. Patients need to know if one has better results, fewer complications, or is less likely to suggest unnecessary steps. Often, it’s not just about the price—it’s about seeing the right doctor to begin with.

Pricing in healthcare is obviously complicated too - you might look up the cost of one service, but additional tests, consultations, or fees can come up and change the final amount. Even for a single procedure, the cost can vary depending on who’s providing it, where it’s done, or your specific needs.

Understanding Providers Matters Too

Cost is important, but so is patients having a sense of how a provider approaches care. Are they more likely than their peers to recommend low-value services—tests or procedures that aren’t really necessary? For example, what is an OBGYN’s C-section rate compared to her peers or how often does a physician prescribe opioids or antibiotics compared to others of the same subspecialty? Do they tend to choose brand-name drugs even when generics would work, or reflexively order imaging when it’s not fully supported by guidelines? Knowing these patterns tells you more about value than a price alone ever could.?

This isn’t about “good or bad doctors”—it’s about giving patients and employers useful insight. A specialist might look cost-effective, but if they’re not the best match for your needs—or if they’re inclined to add extra services that don’t make a difference—the value isn’t there. Combining cost with this kind of information makes transparency something people can act on, not just a formality.

Making Transparency Useful, Not Just Checking the Regulatory Box

It’s encouraging that transparency remains a priority, but there’s a chance it could stay more of a requirement box to check than a real improvement. Price transparency efforts often end up as hard-to-read datasets that don’t offer much help to the patients and employers who need them. To make it meaningful, we need to move beyond price lists and include clear details on costs and provider quality—information that’s easy to find when and where decisions are being made, like in a provider directory, a benefits portal, or a referral tool.

Transparency shouldn’t slip into being another industry talking point—it should be the foundation for smarter, more efficient healthcare. Patients choosing between providers should see a clear picture of their options including who delivers better outcomes and avoids unnecessary treatments. Employers managing healthcare benefits shouldn’t focus solely on cost but should prioritize networks that emphasize high-value care.

Price transparency is only one piece of the puzzle. The industry must go further, integrating provider quality insights, care appropriateness, and patient-centered decision-making tools. The challenge isn’t creating new systems—it’s refining what already exists to make transparency truly useful and actionable.

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