“This post is a problem. Hospital charges are not only difficult to obtain but are often impossible for most people to access. I experienced this a month ago trying to determine future medical costs. I talked to the admissions office of the hospital explaining the need for an estimate to remove the fracture hardware. They said they did not make that information available to anyone as a general policy. I can see it is complicated for a hospital. It might be a liability despite disclaimers. There is not an easy answer. My view is that a hospital should not be considered malevolent when refusing to release a price for future surgery. That may never be possible.
This post refers to information that cannot be confirmed quickly; a subscription is required. Typically I don’t consider using this type of material for medical research. This post is an exception” Bill Chesnut, MD
Survey of 54 hospitals in six states reveals difficulties in accessing hospital price information
Modern Healthcare (2/21, Evans, Subscription Publication) reports that the Pioneer Institute in Boston, MA, “a health policy think tank,” conducted a survey using “mock consumers to test how accessible” hospital price information is. The survey found that “mock consumers found it ‘difficult and frustrating’ to get the price of a common and standard imaging procedure.” Even when prices were provided, they “were sometimes inaccurate,” the “survey of 54 hospitals in six states” revealed.