Eye-Popping Differences Revealed in Hospital Prices
May 26, 2011 By Liz Kowalczyk, Globe Staff
A new report from Governor Deval Patrick’s administration documenting what hospitals are paid for common procedures reveals some eye-opening differences in price. Also noteworthy is that even routine procedures, like removal of the appendix and gallbladder, are concentrated in the highest-priced hospitals, pushing up health care costs even more. Some interesting variations:
The five largest insurers paid Children’s Hospital Boston more than $2 million in 2009 for 166 appendectomies — an average $11,889 each. They paid Mount Auburn Hospital in Cambridge an average of $7,601 for each of 102 operations.
For minimally-invasive gallbladder removal, the insurers paid Massachusetts General Hospital $12,670 on average for each of 54 procedures, while paying Jordan Hospital in Plymouth, which did 47 of the procedures, an average of $8,977 each.
Children’s did the most appendectomies, while Mass. General was in the top four in terms of number of gallbladder procedures.
The full report and charts will be available here later today. Look for a complete story on these data in the Globe tomorrow.
Comments