This report from the Commonwealth Fund explores the opinions of various health care leaders on pricing and costs.

From the executive summary:

More than nine of 10 leaders in health care and health care policy believe it is important for the public to have information on clinical quality and prices, and such information is essential for improving U.S. health system performance, according to a Commonwealth Fund/Modern Healthcare Health Care Opinion Leaders Survey. Most leaders support moving toward salaried physician practice with appropriate rewards for quality and prudent use of resources. Survey respondents also support rewards for accountable care organizations through use of partial capitation and shared savings payments. Similarly, they support innovative mechanisms to foster price competition, including value-based benefit design, reference pricing for services, and tiered networks. Seventy-one percent of leaders believe it is important for all payers to use the same method of payment for rewarding quality and efficiency, and a majority support using all-payer payment rate setting or a single system of rate negotiation on behalf of all payers.

Full Brief: Health Care Opinion Leaders' Views on Transparency and Pricing (PDF | 688 KB) 

Commonwealth Fund. (2010). Health care opinion leaders' views on transparency and pricing. Stremikis, K., Davis, K., and Guterman, S.