It is well known that health care spending in the United States is much higher than similar countries but that this does not result in better health outcomes [1]. Research has shown that this higher spending is driven by high prices rather than greater utilization of care [2]. Until recently, publicly available information on health care prices has been scarce [3,4]. This began to change when the hospital price transparency (HPT) went into effect on January 1, 2021 [5].

HPT requires hospitals to post prices or negotiated rates of common, “shoppable,” services, as defined by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid (CMS), in a machine-readable format. Examples of these shoppable services include common blood tests and radiology services such as X-rays and mammograms. In July 2022, the CMS also mandated that payers post the prices for a more expansive set of services, under the Transparency in Coverage (TIC) regulation [6]. Thanks to HPT and TIC, health care prices are no longer hidden from the public.

CMS’s stated goal [5,7] for these transparency initiatives is to help inform consumers about the cost of medical services prior to receiving them, as this information can help people make informed decisions about where they receive services. Additionally, transparency about prices could lead to greater competition and potentially lower prices and health care spending.

These transparency initiatives can be impactful if people are aware that they can access information on health care prices for decision-making, especially for shoppable services with comparable quality across providers. This impact is only actualized if hospitals comply with CMS requirements to provide complete and accurate data on prices in a timely manner.

This paper aims to examine whether people are aware that they can look up prices of health care services prior to receiving care, and whether this newly available information is being used.

Increased price transparency has the potential to increase competition and decrease health care spending in the United States [3,4,9]. It can also help consumers of health care make informed decisions [5]. We found limited awareness and use of HPT data among the public, but there is a strong desire for transparency in health care prices. It should be noted that these findings are based on self-reported data and might differ from actual awareness and use of HPT. The CMS should improve compliance among hospitals by aggressively enforcing the existing penalties [10]. Public awareness efforts could also lead to increased use by consumers.