A new federal rule requiring hospitals to publish their standard prices for medical procedures — a listing known as a chargemaster — went into effect today as part of an effort to provide more transparency regarding health care services.
Pullman Regional Hospital has posted its chargemaster here. It has almost 7,300 items or services listed. A breast feeding consult of less than an hour typically runs about $190. A total knee prothesis costs $3,030. A Medtronic neurostimulator goes for $41,520.
Whitman Hospital & Medical Center posted its chargemaster here earlier today. It contains more than 3,000 listings. Smoking cessation education costs $146. Treating a broken wrist goes for about $2,573. And inserting a permanent pacemaker should run about $19,737.
This Atlanta Journal-Constitution story outlines how access to hospital chargemasters could still leave most patients confused as they attempt to compare complex treatment plans. Listing items remain mostly shrouded in medical jargon and the standard charges do not reflect various insurance reimbursements:
There are thousands of items with descriptions that few consumers would actually understand. Search for pacemaker and several options come up, with prices that vary by thousands of bucks. There are more than a thousand charges for different types of screws used in surgeries, some costing hundreds of dollars, others in the thousands.
Even finding out the charge for a Tylenol isn’t as easy as it might seem. Piedmont’s chargemaster for its Atlanta hospital has all sorts of variations of “acetaminophen.” Some are pills that also include hyrocodone, some have codeine, and the strengths vary along with the list prices that run from about $30 to over $500.
This answer sheet from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services also goes through some of the other requirements of the new federal rule.
Experts say even convoluted transparency is a step in the right direction. This information also builds off of other statewide health care pricing and rating sites such as Washington Health Care Compare.
If you have more questions, you can check our Civic Calendar to see when local hospital boards hold their regular public meetings.