Federal price transparency rules are showing signs of stoking more hospital competition and making prices more reflective of the cost of care, a new review found. There's still limited understanding of how the rules are affecting market dynamics, and experts acknowledge they haven't yet translated to lower across-the-board patient costs. Turquoise Health examined more than 390,000 rates that health systems negotiated with insurers for 37 common services in the 10 biggest U.S. metro areas. "We're still in the early days, but we see encouraging signs that price transparency is helping make progress" rebuilding healthcare competition and lowering some prices, said Forrest Xiao, the company's director of quantitative research.
