Abstract
Abstract 208: Association of Hospital Prices for Coronary Artery Bypass Graft Surgery with Hospital Quality and Reimbursement
Circulation Cardiovascular quality and outcomes, Vol.8(suppl_2)
05/2015
DOI: 10.1161/circoutcomes.8.suppl_2.208
Abstract
Background:
Although prices for medical services are known to vary markedly between hospitals especially for patients without medical insurance, it remains unknown whether this large variation in price is explained by differences in hospital quality or reimbursement from major insurers.
Methods:
We obtained an “out-of-pocket” hospital and physician price estimate for a coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) surgery for a hypothetical patient without medical insurance via telephone call from a random sample of U.S. hospitals during January 2014. We examined whether the price provided by a hospital was associated with its 1) structural characteristics obtained from the American Hospital Association data, 2010 2) risk-standardized CABG mortality obtained from the Society of Thoracic Surgeons data, 2013 and 3) “fair price” estimate for CABG base don reimbursement data from major insurers in the zip code of the hospital location (Healthcare Bluebook, www.healthcarebluebook.com).
Results:
We contacted a total of 111 U.S. hospitals, of which 56 (50.5%) were able to provide a price estimate for CABG. The mean price for CABG obtained from the hospitals was $151,784.64, and ranged from $44,824 - $448,039. Except geographic location (p=0.03), which was weakly associated, hospital prices for a CABG surgery were not associated with teaching status, for-profit/not-for-profit/government classification, urban/rural location, or CABG volume (p >0.10 for all). Likewise, we found no association between a hospital’s quoted price for CABG and its risk-standardized CABG mortality (r= -0.03 p=0.89), or its average reimbursement for CABG surgery from major insurers within the same zip code (r= 0.07, p=0.6).
Conclusion:
We found a 10-fold variation in the prices obtained from U.S. hospitals for CABG surgery for an uninsured patient. Although there was slight variation in CABG surgery prices based on geographic region, we found no evidence to suggest that hospitals with higher prices have lower mortality or receive higher reimbursement from insured patients.
Details
- Title: Subtitle
- Abstract 208: Association of Hospital Prices for Coronary Artery Bypass Graft Surgery with Hospital Quality and Reimbursement
- Creators
- Bria Giacomino - University of IowaPeter Cram - UHN/Mt Sinai Hosp, Toronto, CanadaMary Vaughan-Sarrazin - University of IowaSaket Girotra - University of Iowa
- Resource Type
- Abstract
- Publication Details
- Circulation Cardiovascular quality and outcomes, Vol.8(suppl_2)
- DOI
- 10.1161/circoutcomes.8.suppl_2.208
- ISSN
- 1941-7713
- eISSN
- 1941-7705
- Language
- English
- Date published
- 05/2015
- Academic Unit
- Cardiovascular Medicine; General Internal Medicine; Internal Medicine; Health Management and Policy
- Record Identifier
- 9984363261202771
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