Doctors order fewer tests when they know prices: study

By Andrew M. Seaman NEW YORK (Reuters Health) – Doctors order fewer laboratory tests during a patient’s hospital stay if they know how much the tests cost, according to a new study. Researchers found that doctors at one U.S. hospital ordered about 9 percent fewer lab tests – such as blood work – when their computerized records system displayed the price. “(Before the study) we saw a lot of waste. We saw a lot of tests that didn’t need to be ordered,” said Dr. Leonard Feldman, the study’s lead author from The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore. …