Ore. hospitals with most clout command higher prices

The (Portland) Oregonian: Prices vary radically for similar procedures at Oregon hospitals. "A balloon angioplasty to unclog heart arteries costs about $52,000 at St. Charles Medical Center in Bend, more than three times the typical amount insurers paid Tuality Community Hospital in Hillsboro, according to hospital payment comparisons posted online today by Oregon health officials." And that's just one example. "When Oregon began disclosing details of hospital billing three years ago, officials hoped to spur competition that would hold back costs and reduce the huge variations in rates from hospital to hospital. The latest data from 2009 suggest that little has changed. Hospitals with the most clout command payments two to three times higher than the lowest-priced hospitals. And hospital costs overall continue to soar" (Rojas-Burke, 10/4).

---

This article was reprinted from khn.org with permission from the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. Kaiser Health News, an editorially independent news service, is a program of the Kaiser Family Foundation, a nonpartisan health care policy research organization unaffiliated with Kaiser Permanente.