When Steven Brill's Time Magazine cover story, "Bitter Pill" was published back in March, it bought to light both the often inexplicable charges and wide variation in hospital billing. While this fact is no surprise to those working in the industry nor patients who have been hit with heavy hospital bills (especially the uninsured), what Brill did was pull together several examples and personal stories into one article to garner attention. He accomplished what he set out to do, receiving responses from the American Hospital Association, several hospitals and health systems, and was even invited to be a guest on Jon Stewart's The Daily Show.
Now, CMS (Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services) has published further proof of price variation. "Data being released for the first time by the government on Wednesday shows that hospitals charge Medicare wildly differing amounts — sometimes 10 to 20 times what Medicare typically reimburses — for the same procedure, raising questions about how hospitals determine prices and why they differ so widely," reported The New York Times today, on it's homepage.
Yet another argument in support of moving towards bundled payment. To read more about this exciting new healthcare trend, click here.
