3029 Physician Awareness of Medical Device Cost: A Systematic Review

Abstract

Study Objective To investigate the accuracy of physician estimates of medical device costs. Design A systematic review of PUBMED, EMBASE, Cochrane Library, EconLit, and Clinicaltrials.gov was conducted. Articles were included for review if they surveyed physicians or residents and included a description of (1) how the authors defined accuracy with regard to medical device cost estimates and (2) how the true costs of the devices were calculated. Exclusion criteria comprised incomplete or duplicate data and research not in English. Setting Systematic Review. Patients or Participants N/A. Interventions N/A. Measurements and Main Results Of 2,699 studies identified, 10 satisfied both inclusion and exclusion criteria. All articles were published between 1998 and 2019, representing a total of 984 physician respondents. Individual article response rates ranged from 22.6–100% (median 44.4%). Cost estimates were considered accurate if they fell within 20–25% of the true device cost, with the exception of 1 study that defined accuracy as being within 50% of the true cost. Between 9% and 35% of physicians were able to accurately estimate medical device costs. Of note, 36.0–92.2% of physicians reported that they felt their knowledge of medical device costs was inadequate, with a majority of participants in every study (66–100%) identifying knowledge of medical device costs as at least moderately important. Conclusion Physicians have limited insight into medical device costs, with a vast majority unable to accurately estimate these costs. Given that many physicians recognize their lack of knowledge concerning medical device costs and believe that such information is important, increased transparency and improved education on this topic may represent important areas of need.