ArticleCancer medicine2024
Hospital- and county-level characteristics explain geographic variability in prices of cancer-related procedures: Implications for policy and interventions.
Article in Cancer medicine, 2024. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 2 papers.
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
2 citing papers in PubMed, 4 citations in OpenAlex.
- Inter- and Intrahospital Price Variation for Common Cardiovascular Admission Diagnoses, Diagnostic Tests, and Therapeutic Procedures.Journal of the American Heart Association · 2025Article
- Hospital- and county-level characteristics explain geographic variability in prices of cancer-related procedures: Implications for policy and interventions.Cancer medicine · 2024Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
4 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundHealthcare costs in the U.S. are high and variable, which can hinder access and impact health outcomes across communities. This study examined hospital- and county-level characteristics to identify factors that explain geographic variation in prices for four cancer-related procedures.
methodsData sources included Turquoise Health, which compiles publicly-available price data from U.S. hospitals. We examined list prices for four procedures: abdominal ultrasound, diagnostic colonoscopy, brain MRI, and pelvis CT scan, which we linked to characteristics of hospitals (e.g., number of beds) and counties (e.g., metropolitan status). We used multilevel linear regression models to assess multivariable relationships between prices and hospital- and county-level characteristics. Supplementary analyses repeated these models using procedures prices for commercial insurance plans.
resultsFor each procedure, list prices varied across counties (intraclass correlation: abdominal ultrasound = 23.2%; colonoscopy = 17.1%; brain MRI = 37.2%; pelvis CT = 50.9%). List prices for each procedure were associated with hospital ownership (all p < 0.001) and percent of population without health insurance (all p < 0.05). For example, list prices for abdominal ultrasound were higher for proprietary versus Government-owned hospitals (β = 539.10, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 256.12, 822.08, p < 0.001) and for hospitals in counties with more uninsured residents (β = 23.44, 95% CI: 2.55, 44.33, p = 0.03). Commercial insurance prices were negatively associated with metropolitan status.
conclusionsPrices for cancer-related healthcare procedures varied substantially, with considerable heterogeneity associated with county location as well as county-level social determinants of health (e.g., health insurance coverage). Interventions and policy changes are needed to alleviate the financial burden of cancer care among patients, including geographic variation in prices for cancer-related procedures.
Indexed as
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.