Maryland to offer online shopping tool for common medical procedures

The Maryland Health Care Commission, the state’s independent regulatory agency, is unveiling a website on which people scheduling a hip replacement, knee replacement, hysterectomy or vaginal delivery can see price differences among different providers for the same procedure.

The site is launching amid rising health-care costs and as some consumers turn to insurance plans with high deductibles.

The state site is meant to give consumers a tool to compare prices and quality on four common medical procedures at hospitals around the state that patients otherwise would have difficulty finding on their own.

By showing ranges of costs — hip replacement surgery in Maryland, for example, can differ by as much as $20,000, the site data shows — state officials said they hope to prompt discussions by patients about doctors’ recommendations about where to schedule a surgery and perhaps create incentives to adjust prices.