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Saturday, December 14, 2013

New York Data Show Hospital Charges All Over The Map

Today's post was shared by Kaiser Health News and comes from www.kaiserhealthnews.org

New York State has pulled back the curtain on hospital charges with a new database showing what each hospital charges for 1,400 different procedures.

The differences can be dramatic: At Bellevue Hospital, the median charge for an uncomplicated birth  is $6,330, and at NYU Langone Medical Center next door, the median charge is $12,222.

Lutheran Medical Center in Sunset Park, Brooklyn, typically charges $5,686 and Maimonides Medical Center, a dozen miles away, $14,763.
Patterns can be difficult to discern, and can vary from procedure to procedure. Overall, academic medical centers are more costly because of the additional staff needed for medical training, the greater use of technology, and the severity and complexity of patients.

But those factors do not account for why at Westchester Medical Center, the median charge for a vaginal delivery is $22,143, and at New York Presbyterian Weill Cornell Medical Center, it is $11,900.

The Greater New Hospital Association said the information is “complex and can be confusing,” because “hospital charges do not reflect the far lower payments hospitals actually receive for the services they provide.” Medicare and Medicaid reimburse much less than what hospitals charge, and insurers and managed care companies also negotiate rates that have little to do with what hospitals ask to be paid.

People without insurance, however, are subject to these sticker prices. In practice, hospitals typically...
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