How much does Huntsville Hospital charge for procedures? You’d be surprised!
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Saturday, May 11, 2013
Thanks to a newly introduced aspect of ObamaCare, hospitals are now mandated to publicly show how much they charge for procedures.
Aren’t you glad?
I mean really… who goes to a grocery store or gas station and doesn’t know how much they’ll pay?
Part of market-based competition includes knowing what other competitors are doing, and basing decisions upon several factors, one of which is cost. For many years, hospitals and the delivery of healthcare have been an utter mystery to many – if not most – Americans. Those days are coming to a close, thanks in part to provisions in ObamaCare.
For the purpose of illustration, let’s pretend you have chest pain, and are admitted to Huntsville Hospital. How much will they charge ? How much will they charge any Health Insurance? How much will you have to pay out of pocket?
What about if you have a fainting spell? What about if you have hip replacement surgery? Open heart surgery? Pneumonia? Bronchitis & Asthma? A Seizure? COPD? A sudden Heart Attack? Trouble swallowing or digesting your food? Kidney or Urinary Tract Infection?
Until now, that’s all been a mystery.
No more.
Here’s a breakdown of nine common diagnoses – without major complications – and how much some hospitals in & around North Alabama charge:
By visiting this link – https://data.cms.gov/Medicare/Inpatient-Prospective-Payment-System-IPPS-Provider/97k6-zzx3 – you can look up the Top 100 most common diagnoses for hospitalizations, and compare costs with other hospitals.
You may also be interested in reading “Q: Why do hospitals charge $75 for aspirin? A: Because they can!”
NOTE: “High Blood Pressure” is the diagnosis “Hypertension,” while “Fainting” is the diagnosis “Syncope,” and “COPD” is “Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease.”
| Hospital (Abbreviation) Diagnosis | Average Charges Made by Hospital | Medicare Pays Hospital Location |
| Pneumonia | ||
| Huntsville Hospital (HHSYS) | $16,081.73 | $4,352.35 – Huntsville, AL |
| Crestwood Medical Center (CMC) | $25,605.14 | $4,558.08 – Huntsville, AL |
| Athens-Limestone Hospital (ALH) | $7,773.39 | $4,306.61 – Athens, AL |
| Decatur General (DG) | $4,788.10 | $3,887.95 – Decatur, AL |
| Parkway Medical Center (PMC) | $23,440.51 | $4,570.54 – Decatur, AL |
| Highlands Medical Center (HMC) | $8,786.56 | $4,089.67 – Scottsboro, AL |
| Marshall Medical Center North (MMCN) | $7,877.75 | $3,688.44 – Guntersville, AL |
| Lincoln Medical Center (LMC) | $8,990.60 | $4,269.96 – Fayetteville, TN |
| High Blood Pressure | ||
| HHSYS | $19,585.35 | $4,491.75 |
| CMC | $16,752.41 | $3,453.41 |
| Diabetes | ||
| HHSYS | $22,960.15 | $5,296.15 |
| CMC | $37,862.53 | $4,423.53 |
| DG | $6,116.28 | $4,523.83 |
| PMC | $24,239.15 | $4,663.23 |
| HMC | $9,579.67 | $4,836.92 |
| Chest Pain | ||
| HHSYS | $21,093.73 | $3,927.16 |
| CMC | $22,905.24 | $2,889.29 |
| ALH | $7,006.38 | $3,292.08 |
| DG | $8,700.79 | $3,259.95 |
| PMC | $23,505.03 | $3,350.40 |
| Urinary Tract Infection | ||
| HHSYS | $19,439.94 | $4,739.96 |
| CMC | $23,656.61 | $4,054.04 |
| ALH | $10,473.50 | $4,556.86 |
| DG | $6,863.14 | $4,266.63 |
| PMC | $20,813.35 | $5,207.00 |
| HMC | $8,919.03 | $4,443.33 |
| MMCN | $7,452.95 | $4,041.22 |
| LMC | $8,207.67 | $4,652.85 |
| Seizures | ||
| HHSYS | $22,734.52 | $5,466.14 |
| CMC | $27,548.24 | $4,003.81 |
| Fainting | ||
| HHSYS | $19,559.39 | $4,446.88 |
| CMC | $24,907.86 | $3,773.46 |
| ALH | $10,603.28 | $4,289.00 |
| DG | $8,581.45 | $4,070.75 |
| PMC | $21,049.44 | $4,031.37 |
| MMCN | $9,337.85 | $3,698.44 |
| Cellulitis | ||
| HHSYS | $22,472.35 | $5,224.07 |
| CMC | $28,472.57 | $4,444.76 |
| ALH | $13,191.33 | $4,889.94 |
| DG | $5,736.45 | $4,587.79 |
| PMC | $24,236.18 | $5,515.55 |
| HMC | $9,179.39 | $4,833.85 |
| MMCN | $12,739.62 | $4,525.30 |
| COPD | ||
| HHSYS | $17,818.94 | $4,977.65 |
| CMC | $22,154.93 | $3,791.83 |
| ALH | $9,246.28 | $4,397.53 |
| DG | $5,515.03 | $4,192.03 |
| PMC | $24,451.68 | $4,474.00 |
| HMC | $8,933.08 | $4,101.38 |
| MMCN | $10,807.47 | $3,873.37 |
| LMC | $8,088.17 | $4,316.27 |
Warm Southern Breeze 
Jay Croft said
There’s quite a disparity in those listings. I wonder if that’s partially because the more expensive hospitals have fancier and more expensive equipment, and they spread the cost among all patients, whether or not the equipment is used.
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Warm Southern Breeze said
Hi Jay! There are some disparities, yes, but on the whole, I was more surprised by the consistently high prices charged by HHSYS, CMC, while DG and the more rural hospitals charge less. And while it might seem reasonable to suppose the differences are due in part to equipment, I would imagine that is only a minor, and insignificant part of the equation.
Huntsville & Madison County is an usual healthcare market for the primary reason that the BIGGEST player – the public chartered not-for-profit Huntsville Hospital (HHSYS) – is the solitary largest hospital in the county, while the significantly smaller Crestwood Medical Center (CMC) is a mere speck on the wall in comparison.
What the area needs is a THIRD INDEPENDENT hospital to bring competition to the market. And, as you may be aware, Alabama’s Certificate of Need law and board are inherently anti-competitive. In fact, the United States Department of Justice and the Federal Bureau of Investigation concluded that CON laws – which the federal government abandoned several years ago – are inherently anti-competitive.
Nevertheless, I’ve not yet done a comparison with Jefferson County area hospitals. That would be phenomenally interesting, as well. As a corollary, I’ve found the reporting on this matter by Advance Media – which owns the Birmingham News, Huntsville Times & Mobile Press-Register, all found on the website AL.com – to be abysmally uninformative.
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Jay Croft said
Of course the newspapers don’t want to upset the hospitals; they might pull their full-page ads that say nothing.
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Warm Southern Breeze said
Indeed… and how very sad that is. And yet, someone’s gotta’ be doing some watchdogging duty!
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