Hospital prices for emergency care varies 16-fold, study shows

From Modern Healthcare:

Prices for initiating care at hospital trauma centers vary wildly across hospitals, sometimes leading to patients with insurance paying more than those without coverage, according to a new study.

Prices associated with readying doctors and other personnel for trauma cases varied 16-fold in 2023 across 761 hospitals studied, according to a peer-reviewed research letter published Wednesday in the Journal of the American Medical Association. Among Level 1 trauma centers, the median cash price for what are known as trauma activation fees was 25% lower than the median rate hospitals negotiated with insurers in 2023, the letter found.