Try our new cutting-edge treatment! (But don’t ask us how much it costs.)

Many hospitals and health care companies are excited to promote the latest, greatest medical procedures and devices, but they’re not as interested in sharing how much they cost.

Bob Herman, a health care business reporter for Axios, reviewed hospital press releases and newsletters and discovered a trend: The information on new procedures and devices was shared to get consumers in the door, but cost details were lacking.

One example: The Sharp Coronado Hospital on California touted itself as “the first hospital in the U.S. to perform a general surgery procedure using the new da Vinci X Robotic Surgical System.” But the hospital’s list price of a robotic surgical procedure – what an uninsured person would have to pay – wasn’t included, nor was the cost to an insured patient.

The goal with the announcement was simply to share information about a new service, said a hospital spokesman. Actual costs to patients are hard to define because insurance coverage varies. And they’re typically outlined after a patient requests a procedure.

The Affordable Care Act requires hospitals to share information about their charges, but studies suggest most patients don’t take much time to research costs using available transparency tools.

It’s likely that most promotional newsletters and press releases are meant to get the attention of doctors, because they are often making choices for their patients, Gerard Anderson, a health policy expert at Johns Hopkins University, told Herman.