Patient Cost Estimator Toolkit

Member Issue Brief: Implementing Patient Out-of-pocket Cost Estimators

Patients have many questions when planning for their care. An important one is: How much is this going to cost me? While hospitals and health systems have generally relied on financial advisors to help patients with inquiries about what they may pay for care, technological advances are enabling them to help patients find this information in new ways, particularly through online tools. This issue brief lays out the key components of effective online tools used by hospitals and health systems to help patients understand their potential out-of-pocket costs and highlights several different approaches providers have taken. View the entire issue brief here. Also see case studies below.