RAND: Hospital Price Caps Could Cut Costs By $61.9 Billion Annually

A RAND study released Thursday (Feb. 18) found setting hospital prices in the private insurance market would likely lead to more savings than price transparency or an increase in hospital market competition, but hospital groups say the analysis doesn’t take related health care costs into account. Setting or capping hospital prices for all commercial payers could reduce spending by $61.9 billion annually if rates were set between 100% to 150% of traditional Medicare rates, according to the report, which compared...