Copy

10/25/21

Dear Colleagues,

Happy Monday!

In Maryland, for decades, an independent state commission has been regulating what hospitals can charge.  In 2014, Maryland also instituted a global cap and budget for each hospital in the state. Rather than being paid per test and procedure, hospitals would get a set amount of money for the entire year for patient care.

What's the impact?

According to today's NY Times article, this program "generated savings of $365 million for Medicare in 2019 and over a billion dollars in the prior four years."

Are Maryland's Price Controls Sustainable?

The price controls clearly have an impact on the bottom line.  Maryland's largest hospital, Johns Hopkins, had a margin of 1.2% in fiscal year 2019, compared with 6.9% at the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota and 5.8% at the University of Pennsylvania Health System; Stanford Health Care’s was 7.1%.

Moreover, a comment by a Johns Hopkins' physician is revealing:



It would seem that unless the same price controls are applied to all states, hospitals affected by price controls will route their business to neighboring states that have better reimbursement.  Until there's a single-payer system or nationalized price controls, competitive hospital pricing will play a part.  This is especially true with today's emphasis on price transparency.

Competitive Prices Matter.  Benchmark Hospital Prices with LATEST Data.

HPS just updated its national pricing database with claims through March 31, 2021.  Our national pricing database has CPT/HCPCS and DRG prices on over 4,500 acute care hospitals.  

Email me if you would like to order either an Inpatient and/or Outpatient market pricing report.  Our customized reports all reported code prices for up to 12 hospitals that you select.  If you order a market pricing report before the end of this month, you will receive a 25% discount!


Feel free to book a call on my private calendar for a quick talk.  No charge.

Regards,

Rick Louie
Managing Director
Hospital Pricing Specialists LLC

LinkedIn Profile:  https://www.linkedin.com/in/ricklouie/

Watch video of Shark Tank's Mr. Wonderful endorsing HPS Price Transparency services [Click Here]



Want to change how you receive these emails?
You can update your preferences or unsubscribe from this list