Commercial Price Variation for Breast Reconstruction in the Era of Price Transparency

Abstract

Breast reconstruction is costly, and negotiated commercial rates have been hidden from public view. The Hospital Price Transparency Rule was enacted in 2021 to facilitate market competition and lower health care costs. Breast reconstruction pricing should be analyzed to evaluate for market effectiveness and opportunities to lower the cost of health care. To evaluate the extent of commercial price variation for breast reconstruction. The secondary objective was to characterize the price of breast reconstruction in relation to market concentration and payer mix. This was a cross-sectional study conducted from January to April 2022 using 2021 pricing data made available after the Hospital Price Transparency Rule. National data were obtained from Turquoise Health, a data service platform that aggregates price disclosures from hospital websites. Participants were included from all hospitals with disclosed pricing data for breast reconstructive procedures, identified by Current Procedural Terminology (CPT) code. Price variation was measured via within- and across-hospital ratios. A mixed-effects linear model evaluated commercial rates relative to governmental rates and the Herfindahl-Hirschman Index (health care market concentration) at the facility level. Linear regression was used to evaluate commercial rates as a function of facility characteristics. A total of 69 834 unique commercial rates were extracted from 978 facilities across 335 metropolitan areas. Commercial rates increased as health care markets became less competitive (coefficient, $4037.52; 95% CI, $700.12 to $7374.92; P = .02; for Herfindahl-Hirschman Index [HHI] 1501-2500, coefficient $3290.21; 95% CI, $878.08 to $5702.34; P = .01; both compared with HHI ≤1500). Commercial rates demonstrated economically insignificant associations with Medicare and Medicaid rates (Medicare coefficient, -$0.05; 95% CI, -$0.14 to $0.03; P = .23; Medicaid coefficient, $0.14; 95% CI, $0.07 to $0.22; P < .001). Safety-net and nonprofit hospitals reported lower commercial rates (coefficient, -$3269.58; 95% CI, -$3815.42 to -$2723.74; P < .001 and coefficient, -$1892.79; -$2519.61 to -$1265.97; P < .001, respectively). Extra-large hospitals (400+ beds) reported higher commercial rates compared with their smaller counterparts (coefficient, $1036.07; 95% CI, $198.29 to $1873.85, P = .02). Study results suggest that commercial rates for breast reconstruction demonstrated large nationwide variation. Higher commercial rates were associated with less competitive markets and facilities that were large, for-profit, and nonsafety net. Privately insured patients with breast cancer may experience higher premiums and deductibles as US hospital market consolidation and for-profit hospitals continue to grow. Transparency policies should be continued along with actions that facilitate greater health care market competition. There was no evidence that facilities increase commercial rates in response to lower governmental rates.