With the advent of consumer-directed health plans, individuals are being asked to shop for health care products and services, but they are often not provided with the tools to make such choices in the most informed way. A number of online tools can help consumers research the cost of the medical services they receive.Consumers are acutely aware that health care costs are rising. [They] are also struggling with the complexity of health-related decisions. The two decisions that the largest portion of consumers (65% each) say is complex are selecting a health plan and selecting a type of health coverage. Only about 10% have researched the cost and/or qual¬ity of doctors and hospitals in the previous 12 months, either online or offline. However, of those who have done such research, more than half tapped online resources.

Insured consumers have not significantly used the tools at their health plans’ Web sites, results show. Only 29% had visited such sites in the pre¬vious 12 months, and of those, the tool they most often used there (67%) was one for choosing a pri¬mary care physician. Fewer had used cost or qual¬ity comparison tools to track health care expenses (47%). Fewer than half thought the cost and qual¬ity tools were useful.
Consumers who use online resources to research provider cost or quality tend to be more urban, educated, and affluent than those who do not. They are also more technologically savvy .Consumers who take prescription drugs are highly cost-sensitive regarding their medications. However, few drug takers actually compare infor¬mation about prescription drugs or use online tools to investigate prices. Only 9% have compared information about two similar prescription drugs online, and only 6% have looked for the best pre¬scription drug prices online.
[We] examined several different types of tools that publish health care cost information. One is treatment cost estimators, which usually provide information about average costs for an episode of care or annual treatment costs, including those for office visits, drugs, inpatient care, and diagnostics. The estimators provide average costs in the geographic area where the consumer resides, across providers and health plans.
Another type of online tool enables consumers to compare hospital costs and/or quality. Many tools display cost information only in a way that allows general comparisons--by using symbols such as $ vs. $$ vs. $$$ to denote different cost levels.
Given the features and functions in today’s online tools that offer health care cost informa¬tion, only motivated—and insured—consumers
have the patience and ability to assemble a whole picture of costs from disparate pieces of informa¬tion. Because the tools do not enable consumers to shop around for services, they do not facilitate health care consumerism.
[We] analyzed consumer survey data and gath¬ered information from a limited number of health plans, vendors, insurers, and a state hospital asso¬ciation about the online tools they offer.