Taming the Willd West of Hospital Overcharging
Washington�s Winner-take-all Hospital Billing Environment Why do we tolerate a 300% difference in treatment for the same procedures among our hospitals? Washington Health Alliance, a nonprofit consortium of healthcare organizations has just published the results of a statewide survey of hospital billing for treatment of stroke and a variety of other conditions. [1] The data for the analysis was extracted from Medicare records through 2012. While I worked for a hospital network I was involved in a value proposition to increase recovery efficacy for stroke patients by getting them into treatment quicker, which was funded with a $6,250 per patient Medicare incentive. This article reviews the high and low price points for stroke treatment by facility and explains the reason for this phenomena and what we can do to fix it. ...