SynthesisJournal of general internal medicine2015
The effect of charge display on cost of care and physician practice behaviors: a systematic review.
Synthesis in Journal of general internal medicine, 2015. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 31 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
31 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- The effect of displaying laboratory test prices on physicians' ordering behaviour: a systematic review of European studies.The European journal of health economics : HEPAC : health economics in prevention and care · 2025Pooled it
- Effectiveness of non-interruptive nudge interventions in electronic health records to improve the delivery of care in hospitals: a systematic review.Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association : JAMIA · 2023Pooled it
- Effectiveness of provider price display in computerized physician order entry (CPOE) on healthcare quality: a systematic review.Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association : JAMIA · 2018Pooled it
- The Effectiveness of Cost Reduction with Charge Displays on Test Ordering under the Health Insurance System in Japan: A Study Using Paper-based Simulated Cases for Residents and Clinical Fellows.Internal medicine (Tokyo, Japan) · 2019Trial
- Effect of a Price Transparency Intervention in the Electronic Health Record on Clinician Ordering of Inpatient Laboratory Tests: The PRICE Randomized Clinical Trial.JAMA internal medicine · 2017Trial
- A Machine Learning-Based Guide for Repeated Laboratory Testing in Pediatric Emergency Departments.Diagnostics (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Article
- Environmental sustainability in cardiovascular practice: current challenges and future directions.Nature reviews. Cardiology · 2025Review
- One Health: Insights from Organizational & Social, Technology Assessment and Human Factors Perspectives.Yearbook of medical informatics · 2023Article
- The Application of Dental Fluoride Varnish in Children: A Low Cost, High-Value Implementation Aided by Passive Clinical Decision Support.Applied clinical informatics · 2023Article
- Article
- Engaging Frontline Physicians in Value Improvement: A Qualitative Evaluation of Physician-Directed Reinvestment.Journal of healthcare leadership · 2022Article
- Effect of a price display intervention on laboratory test ordering behavior of general practitioners.BMC family practice · 2021Article
- Commentary: Improving the Sustainability of Healthcare in Canada through Physician-Engaged Delivery System Reforms.Healthcare policy = Politiques de sante · 2021Article
- Article
- Engaging physicians to prescribe more cost-effectively: Blueprint for change.Canadian family physician Medecin de famille canadien · 2020Article
- Responsibilities, Strategies, and Practice Factors in Clinical Cost Conversations: a US Physician Survey.Journal of general internal medicine · 2020Article
- Noninterruptive Clinical Decision Support Decreases Ordering of Respiratory Viral Panels during Influenza Season.Applied clinical informatics · 2020Article
- Using Online Simulation of Pediatric Musculoskeletal Cases to Evaluate How Knowledge of Costs Affects Diagnostic Workup.Medical science educator · 2020Article
- Addition of price transparency to an education and feedback intervention reduces utilization of inpatient echocardiography by resident physicians.The international journal of cardiovascular imaging · 2019Article
- Can nudge-interventions address health service overuse and underuse? Protocol for a systematic review.BMJ open · 2019Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
4 authors.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundWhile studies have been published in the last 30 years that examine the effect of charge display during physician decision-making, no analysis or synthesis of these studies has been conducted.
objectiveWe aimed to determine the type and quality of charge display studies that have been published; to synthesize this information in the form of a literature review.
methodsEnglish-language articles published between 1982 and 2013 were identified using MEDLINE, Web of Knowledge, ABI-Inform, and Academic Search Premier. Article titles, abstracts, and text were reviewed for relevancy by two authors. Data were then extracted and subsequently synthesized and analyzed.
resultsSeventeen articles were identified that fell into two topic categories: the effect of charge display on radiology and laboratory test ordering versus on medication choice. Seven articles were randomized controlled trials, eight were pre-intervention vs. post-intervention studies, and two interventions had a concurrent control and intervention groups, but were not randomized. Twelve studies were conducted in a clinical environment, whereas five were survey studies. Of the nine clinically based interventions that examined test ordering, seven had statistically significant reductions in cost and/or the number of tests ordered. Two of the three clinical studies looking at medication expenditures found significant reductions in cost. In the survey studies, physicians consistently chose fewer tests or lower cost options in the theoretical scenarios presented.
conclusionsIn the majority of studies, charge information changed ordering and prescribing behavior.
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Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.