Hospitals with the most market clout command 2-3 times higher payments than the lowest-priced hospitals in Oregon's price-reporting system, according to a report by the Oregonian.
However, executives at Oregon hospitals said the state's 2009 payment data, open for all to see, are sometimes misleading. Payments for childbirth services, for example, may or may not include anesthesia. The state was one of the first to require such reporting three years ago, along with New Hampshire and Pennsylvania, and other states have followed since then.
Rather than blame market clout, hospital executives said the variations were mainly caused by higher overhead, such as an IT investment, an unusually large proportion of Medicare and Medicaid patients, maintaining a marginal or unprofitable service and being less efficient.
In addition to price variations, the state data showed prices continuing to surpass inflation, defying state officials' expectation that posting the information online would discourage large increases as well as variations in price. In 2009, for example, the median prices for spinal disk surgery ranged from $13,000 to $7,700 among hospitals and the price for coronary artery bypass graft surgery ranged from $33,813 to $64,505.
Read the Oregonian report on hospital charges
Read more coverage on hospital charges:
- Report Sees No Link Between Hospitals' Market Power, Price Increases
- Massachusetts Hospital Association Report Defends Hospital Costs, Charges
- Employers More Willing to Impose Narrow Networks of Hospitals, Physicians
However, executives at Oregon hospitals said the state's 2009 payment data, open for all to see, are sometimes misleading. Payments for childbirth services, for example, may or may not include anesthesia. The state was one of the first to require such reporting three years ago, along with New Hampshire and Pennsylvania, and other states have followed since then.
Rather than blame market clout, hospital executives said the variations were mainly caused by higher overhead, such as an IT investment, an unusually large proportion of Medicare and Medicaid patients, maintaining a marginal or unprofitable service and being less efficient.
In addition to price variations, the state data showed prices continuing to surpass inflation, defying state officials' expectation that posting the information online would discourage large increases as well as variations in price. In 2009, for example, the median prices for spinal disk surgery ranged from $13,000 to $7,700 among hospitals and the price for coronary artery bypass graft surgery ranged from $33,813 to $64,505.
Read the Oregonian report on hospital charges
Read more coverage on hospital charges:
- Report Sees No Link Between Hospitals' Market Power, Price Increases
- Massachusetts Hospital Association Report Defends Hospital Costs, Charges
- Employers More Willing to Impose Narrow Networks of Hospitals, Physicians