How much do prices for health services vary within a city?
Published in Slideshow World
Health care prices are notoriously opaque in America. A 2022 InstaMed survey reported that 71% of consumers found their medical bills confusing, while 76% received an unexpected charge.
Congress introduced a number of reforms in recent years designed to help people figure out how much various medical services actually cost. As of Jan. 1, 2021, hospitals must publish how much they charge for various services online, in formats that are easy for both consumers and machines to read.
This data, compiled by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, reveals prices can vary immensely from provider to provider. Care Better created its own database, based in part on CMS data, to make sense of these numbers.
Care Better data shows prices can vary drastically from doctor to doctor for the same services even within a single city, which is a compelling reason to shop around before committing. For the sake of simplicity, this data analysis focuses on new patients visiting doctors at their offices, on visits that lasted between 30 and 44 minutes. The analysis includes data through August 2023, for the 25 largest cities in America.
Internal medicine practitioners were the most common type of specialist seen by patients. On average, internal medicine doctors at the 25th percentile of costs charged around $107 for a typical office visit, while doctors at the 75th percentile of costs charged around $130. Based on this data, setting aside factors such as a doctor's popularity, or how high their reviews are, a consumer can easily save over 20% on doctor visits just by shopping around within the same city.
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