STAT+: How a major hospital shows just how inflated hospital list prices are
Hospitals’ list prices always come with massive discounts. Financial documents at one L.A. hospital show just how large those discounts are.
Hospitals’ list prices for surgeries, therapies, and other procedures always come with massive discounts. Financial documents at a prominent hospital system in Los Angeles show just how large those discounts are — and how raw of a deal uninsured patients could be getting.
Cedars-Sinai reported more than $10.2 billion of gross patient revenue in the most recent three-month period that ended Sept. 30, according to new financial documents. That’s the total amount the hospital system billed various health insurers and government programs based on its chargemaster rates — in other words, before negotiated discounts were applied.
Total deductions, which mostly include those negotiated or mandated discounts, were more than $8.6 billion in that same quarter. That means more than 84% of Cedars-Sinai’s gross charges disappeared into the ether.
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