Price-Informed Shared Decision Making Can Facilitate Meaningful Healthcare Decisions Among Older Patients

Older Adult-Oriented Resources Highly Adaptable for Use in Diverse Clinical Settings

Price-Informed Shared Decision Making for Older Adults at the Point of Care

NEW YORK, Feb. 25, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- A three-year initiative by independent nonprofit FAIR Health revealed how price-informed shared decision-making tools used at the clinical point of care help older adults engage in shared decision making with their clinicians. Older patients at the participating sites—Penn Medicine, The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center, the University of Rochester Medical Center and Emory University—gained clarity around their treatment options and healthcare costs and were able to engage confidently in shared decision making with their providers. Clinicians found the tools adaptable to align with their clinical workflows and staffing complements. These and other insights are included in a new FAIR Health report released today, Price-Informed Shared Decision Making for Older Adults at the Point of Care. The report summarizes key findings from the national initiative, generously funded by The John A. Hartford Foundation.

Key Program Findings

• Price-informed shared decision-making tools help patients understand treatment options and costs. After using the tools with their healthcare providers, 71 percent of older patients and family caregivers reported that they felt more informed about their treatment options; 82 percent felt that the clinical and cost information in the tools helped them better understand the most important aspects of their care. Sixty-four percent of older patients reported that they were able to better understand their treatment costs, and 54 percent felt more informed about their annual costs for treatment and care when using the total treatment cost tools.
  
  
• How much cost matters is influenced by age, medical condition and insurance coverage. While research shows that a portion of older patients consider costs to be either an important factor or the most important factor in healthcare decision making,¹ costs were not the primary concern for patients with employer-sponsored insurance coverage or other adequate coverage that minimized out-of-pocket costs. Clinicians reported that the point at which patients wished to discuss costs of care varied based on the patient's diagnosis.
  
  
• Adaptable tools offer flexibility at the point of care for clinicians in diverse clinical settings and workflows. Clinicians employed diverse, tailored implementation approaches to use the tools with older patients, family caregivers and care partners. These approaches included interdisciplinary teams (e.g., geriatricians, neuropsychologists, psychometrists, nurse navigators); leveraging electronic health record systems to disseminate resources; using iPads to showcase tools; and outreach through community events.
  
  
• Price-informed tools and resources can facilitate communication needed for effective shared decision making. Among the older patients and family caregivers surveyed, 82 percent felt confident in their ability to discuss questions and concerns more effectively with healthcare providers. Likewise, 75 percent of clinicians at the participating sites agreed that the tools and resources increased their ability to facilitate discussions around care.
  
  
• Clinicians appreciate and find useful peer-to-peer learning opportunities around shared decision making. Learning exchange sessions enabled clinicians to share and discuss their strategies for implementing the tools and resources at the point of care. Clinicians expressed appreciation for the utility of these sessions.
  
  
• Paid search ads are a notably effective channel for promoting awareness of FAIR Health for Older Adults nationwide. Over 2.1 million individuals viewed the Google paid search ads and banners, generating over 75 percent (300,000 out of 400,000) of unique visits as measured by click-through metrics, making it the most successful channel for bringing attention to FAIR Health for Older Adults.

Ray Campbell, President of FAIR Health, said: "FAIR Health was proud to undertake this point-of-care implementation initiative with the generous support of The John A. Hartford Foundation. Evaluative insights underscore the growing need for objective healthcare information to inform decision making among older adults and have exciting implications for future clinical practice and policy around older adult care."

Rani Snyder, President of The John A. Hartford Foundation, said: "With our support, FAIR Health is advancing price-informed shared decision making for older adults and their family caregivers so that their health care reflects what matters most to them. The project findings from diverse, real-world clinical sites demonstrate how well-designed informational tools can enhance age-friendly care."

Mariam Mati, MD, Assistant Professor in the Division of Geriatrics and Gerontology at the Emory University School of Medicine and Geriatrician at Grady's Lee + White Outpatient Center, stated: "We appreciated the opportunity to evaluate FAIR Health's shared decision-making tools and resources at the clinical point of care. The tools and resources have the potential to change how clinicians and older patients view and engage in shared decision making."

Christopher Nguyen, PhD, ABPP, Director of Neuropsychology in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Health and Director of the Office of Geriatrics and Gerontology at The Ohio State University, stated: "We were pleased to participate in this groundbreaking initiative. The shared decision-making tools and resources are a step forward in creating a more equitable healthcare system in which patients' voices matter."

Allison Magnuson, DO, geriatric oncologist and Associate Professor in the Department of Medicine at the University of Rochester Medical Center, said: "FAIR Health's initiative underscored the importance of providing care that is aligned with what matters to older patients. Access to useful information and resources can help alleviate patients' concerns and encourage them to become more actively involved in healthcare decision making."

Sarah H. Kagan, PhD, RN, Professor of Gerontological Nursing in the School of Nursing at the Abramson Cancer Center at Pennsylvania Hospital, said: "We were delighted to collaborate with FAIR Health on this initiative. It provided unique insights into how clinicians can help advance cost transparency and reduce financial stress among older patients and family caregivers."

Access the report here.

To access the free tools, educational content and resources for older adults, visit FAIR Health for Older Adults. To see the Spanish version, please click here.

To learn more about using the shared decision-making tools with their patients, clinicians can contact Gee Kim, FAIR Health Clinical Liaison, at [email protected].

The decision aids are not intended to be medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. They are intended to provide information to help users engage in shared decision making with health professionals.

The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center, Penn Medicine's Abramson Cancer Center, University of Rochester's Wilmot Cancer Institute, and Grady Health System and Emory University School of Medicine were participating clinical sites. Nothing herein is to be construed as an endorsement by The Ohio State University, by Penn Medicine, by Wilmot Cancer Institute or by Emory University School of Medicine of any service or product.

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About FAIR Health
FAIR Health's mission is to supply objective, unbiased information for all stakeholders to improve healthcare quality, access and affordability. It holds the nation's largest collection of commercial healthcare claims data, which is growing at a rate of about four billion claim records a year. A national Qualified Entity certified by CMS, FAIR Health also receives all claims for individuals enrolled in traditional Medicare Parts A, B and D. As a testament to its reliability and objectivity, FAIR Health's data products—including pricing benchmarks and custom analytics—are widely used by commercial insurers and self-insurers, providers, hospitals and healthcare systems, government, researchers and more. FAIR Health has been designated an official data source for state health programs, including workers' compensation and personal injury protection (PIP) programs, and surprise billing laws that protect consumers. FAIR Health's free consumer website and mobile app, available in English and Spanish, enable consumers to estimate and plan for their healthcare expenses and offer a rich educational platform on health insurance. The website has been honored by the White House Summit on Smart Disclosure, the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), URAC, the eHealthcare Leadership Awards, appPicker, Employee Benefit News and Kiplinger's Personal Finance. FAIR Health is a national, 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. For more information on FAIR Health, visit fairhealth.org.

¹ FAIR Health, Healthcare Navigation and Decision Making: Perspectives of Adults Aged 65 and Older and Family Caregivers.

Contact:
Rachel Kent
Executive Director of Communications and Marketing
FAIR Health
646-396-0795
[email protected]

SOURCE FAIR Health