Researchers from Duke University Medical Center Report Findings in Managed Care (Expenses and expectations for endocrine surgeries: A national analysis of price transparency and cost of care): Managed Care

2025 OCT 10 (NewsRx) -- By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Insurance Daily News -- New research on Managed Care is the subject of a report. According to news reporting originating from Durham, North Carolina, by NewsRx correspondents, research stated, “The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services price transparency rule aims to facilitate cost-conscious consumer decision making. However, factors mediating transparency and real-world prices for endocrine surgeries are not well described.”

Our news editors obtained a quote from the research from Duke University Medical Center, “Data were obtained from Turquoise Health and Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services reports. The American Association of Endocrine Surgeons ‘Find A Surgeon’ tool identified endocrine surgeons. Chi-square, Kruskal-Wallis, and Wilcoxon rank-sum tests evaluated associations with price disclosure. Multivariable linear regression models assessed the marginal effects of factors on reimbursements. There were 439 American Association of Endocrine Surgeons-affiliated surgeons identified from 307 unique practice locations, of which 254 (82.7%) disclosed endocrine surgery prices. Locations with an American Association of Endocrine Surgeons-affiliated surgeon that disclosed prices were more likely to be teaching hospitals, nonprofit, large size (200+ beds), with a higher share of Medicare patients, greater patient complexity, higher Medicare star rating, and in markets with more endocrine surgery competition (all P< .05). Factors associated with higher prices included commercial insurance or self-pay, nonprofit health system, larger bed size, and in markets with nearby American Association of Endocrine Surgeons-affiliated surgeons. Lower prices were seen for low Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services star rating, urban locations, in moderately competitive health care markets, and with 21-80 nearby facilities disclosing endocrine surgery prices. Hospitals with an American Association of Endocrine Surgeons-affiliated surgeon had higher hospitalization and lower procedure prices. Facilities with an American Association of Endocrine Surgeons-affiliated surgeon demonstrated excellent price disclosure for endocrine surgeries. Hospital characteristics such as size, ownership, quality, geographic location, and market factors influenced final reimbursements.”

According to the news editors, the research concluded: “Further studies are needed to investigate the alignment of reimbursement with quality of care to translate price transparency into increased value for patients.”

This research has been peer-reviewed.

For more information on this research see: Expenses and expectations for endocrine surgeries: A national analysis of price transparency and cost of care. Surgery, 2025:109692. Surgery can be contacted at: Mosby-elsevier, 360 Park Avenue South, New York, NY 10010-1710, USA. (Elsevier - www.elsevier.com; Surgery - http://www.journals.elsevier.com/surgery/)

The news editors report that additional information may be obtained by contacting Anthony T. Saxton, Dept. of Surgery, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, NC. Additional authors for this research include Alberto J. Monreal, Sabran Masoud, Hadiza S. Kazaure, Michael T. Stang, Marcelo Cerulo and Randall P. Scheri.

Publisher contact information for the journal Surgery is: Mosby-elsevier, 360 Park Avenue South, New York, NY 10010-1710, USA.

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