Hospital Prices now available (insurance, deductible, codes)

[r10000]

Starting this year, CMS requires all hospital post their standard charges.

I went to GHS site and found a price list you can download here: https://www.ghs.org/patients-visitor...pital-charges/

Unfortunately, you have to have Excel or some other program to look at csv files. Also, when I opened it, it is several pages and pages of abbreviated things. I think GHS made this intentional to make it difficult to understand

I wish they would list the very most common things like ER visits and in plain English, not abbreviated.

Just wanted to spread the word around as I have been victim of GHS expensive ER visits.

[lyricamphibian]

Originally Posted by r10000

Unfortunately, you have to have Excel or some other program to look at csv files. Also, when I opened it, it is several pages and pages of abbreviated things. I think GHS made this intentional to make it difficult to understand

I wish they would list the very most common things like ER visits and in plain English, not abbreviated

Heh, heh, heh... Yeah, I suspect you might be right. Whether or not this is deliberate, GHS is complying with the letter of the law but not the spirit.

CSV is a standard data file if you are a computer nerd, but GHS could have made it much more user-friendly simply by converting it to PDF.

[gvsteve]

As pointed out in this news article, these descriptions are also completely incomprehensible, and they aren't the same description for the same service between different hospitals, so it's mostly useless.

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/13/u...gtype=Homepage


Here are some examples from GHS.




DEV ZEN ALPHA P 44-179 $39,912.50

HC EP EVAL & ABLATE VENTRIC TACHY $34,882.10



ENDO TLNT THOR 24X24X116 $31,000.00

[USNRET04]

So much for transparency!

[WannaliveinGreenville]

Originally Posted by gvsteve

As pointed out in this news article, these descriptions are also completely incomprehensible, and they aren't the same description for the same service between different hospitals, so it's mostly useless.

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/13/u...gtype=Homepage


Here are some examples from GHS.




DEV ZEN ALPHA P 44-179 $39,912.50

HC EP EVAL & ABLATE VENTRIC TACHY $34,882.10



ENDO TLNT THOR 24X24X116 $31,000.00

Easy to understand, LOL!

[WhitewaterVol]

Originally Posted by lyricamphibian

Heh, heh, heh... Yeah, I suspect you might be right. Whether or not this is deliberate, GHS is complying with the letter of the law but not the spirit.

CSV is a standard data file if you are a computer nerd, but GHS could have made it much more user-friendly simply by converting it to PDF.

Converting anything to PDF makes it very hard to process the data in any way. The CSV format can be read by almost any computer anywhere using Google Docs, Excel, Python, Matlab, etc., etc. Would be nice for them to present that data in both formats.

These price lists are a good first step but as has been pointed out, the variety of abbreviations when coupled with the large myriad of different procedure codes makes the lists very close to incomprehensible. Ironically, the one user that can probably make sense of them would be a large insurance company.

We need more price transparency so that patients have a better picture of the costs before receiving services. If you have a non-emergency medical need, it would be nice to be able to compare prices among different providers to help make a more informed choice before choosing where to receive care. In the current market, most people have no ability to even make price part of their decision.

[gvsteve]

You know what's hilarious? You charge $31,000 for a service but it's not important enough to write a description for the service.

[WhitewaterVol]

Originally Posted by gvsteve

You know what's hilarious? You charge $31,000 for a service but it's not important enough to write a description for the service.

It's a type of endovascular thoracic stent
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16872959
A lot of these codes likely use abbreviations because whatever system they are entered into has a limit on characters. I agree that this price list is largely useless.

[WhitewaterVol]

I know it isn't exactly the same but I'd like to see things be more similar to what you get with the dentist. If I need any kind of involved procedure done (fillings, crown, root canal, etc.) the dentist office contacts my insurance, finds out what they will pay, and gives me a pretty accurate cost breakdown. I can take their estimate and compare it to other dentists if I think the charges are unreasonable.

When we've tried to do that for non-emergency medical treatment, the estimate always leaves out things that we get significant bills for after the procedure. We got an estimate from the hospital and surgeon before a family member had knee surgery a few years ago. Neither estimate included the cost for pathology, anesthesia, labs, or other ancillary charges that we ended up receiving separate bills for afterward. If you get an estimate before surgery from the hospital it should be a soup to nuts estimate that includes all likely charges from everyone involved in the procedure. That's the only way you can make an honest comparison between medical providers.

[Downtown27]

Originally Posted by WhitewaterVol

I know it isn't exactly the same but I'd like to see things be more similar to what you get with the dentist. If I need any kind of involved procedure done (fillings, crown, root canal, etc.) the dentist office contacts my insurance, finds out what they will pay, and gives me a pretty accurate cost breakdown. I can take their estimate and compare it to other dentists if I think the charges are unreasonable.

When we've tried to do that for non-emergency medical treatment, the estimate always leaves out things that we get significant bills for after the procedure. We got an estimate from the hospital and surgeon before a family member had knee surgery a few years ago. Neither estimate included the cost for pathology, anesthesia, labs, or other ancillary charges that we ended up receiving separate bills for afterward. If you get an estimate before surgery from the hospital it should be a soup to nuts estimate that includes all likely charges from everyone involved in the procedure. That's the only way you can make an honest comparison between medical providers.

Yes. And heaven forbid they put someone (like an anesthesiologist) on your case who is not part of your insurance network. The costs can suddenly sky-rocket with massive out-of-network deductibles. I've had that happen.

I've also had a hospital estimate charges of something like $19,000 for a non-invasive out-patient procedure and demand 20% up front even though the actual billable cost to insurance was about a third of their ridiculous asking price and my out-of-pocket deductible was far lower than what they were requesting me to pay.

I now decline to pay any medical bill until I have the statement from my insurance company telling exactly what I should owe.

But for some procedures insurance just has an agreed flat percentage rate on whatever the hospital bills, and they can make up any price they want.