New Rule Requires Hospitals To Post Costs Of Medical Services Online

WINSTON COUNTY, Miss. (WCBI)- In just a few days hospital patients all over will be able to see what the charges are for their medical procedure.

Starting in 2019, a federal rule requires all hospitals to post the prices for common procedures.

“The new rule is basically the Center for Medicare Services is requiring all healthcare facilities, hospitals, to post what is referred to as the charge master out on our website,” said Paul Black, Winston Medical Center CEO. “It has to be in a machine readable format.”

The new rule allows patients to search online for the best and lowest hospital prices.

The online data will show charges for all procedures in which that specific hospital performs.

Black said the new rule will be beneficial because it’ll help provide more transparency for pricing.

However he thinks it might also leave customers confused.

“We don’t have an insurance company out there that pays us based on what our charges are,” said Black. “We have contracts with the insurance companies and some of them pay us a percent of Medicare, some pay us a negotiated rate, both for impatient and outpatient ER Services, so really the charge is insignificant. It’s something that’s put out there so that we have to adjust the patients bill accordingly.”

The hospital administrator said despite the charges being posted online, it still doesn’t give patients the exact dollar amount they’ll have to pay out of pocket for their procedure.

“A prime example is we could do a service and provide a service where the charges are $1000,” Black explained. “Our contract with the insurance company says we’re only going to pay you $800 for that service, well we’ve got a contract with them, so we accept the $800. We’re writing off the $200 difference as what we call a contractual adjustment, and we make no attempt whatsoever to collect that $200.”

Under the new rule, each medical facility has to update its prices online at least once a year.

Black said his staff is currently in the process on gathering and posting all of their information online ahead of the January first deadline.