Column: Medicare says a procedure is worth $5,869. This hospital imposed a 1,200% markup
LA TimesSan Diego’s Scripps Mercy Surgery Pavilion, affiliated with Scripps Mercy Hospital, billed a patient 1,200% more than what Medicare says a treatment is worth. He called Scripps’ markup “extreme by any standard.” “Most hospitals don’t charge more than 10 times what is allowed by Medicare,” Doctor told me. “The average hospital charges about 3.4 times more.” He described the initial charge to Summers as “disturbing,” and said it “has no justification whatsoever.” Patricia Minero, an administrator at Scripps Mercy Surgery Pavilion, said the hospital’s charges “are in line with other facilities in our geographic region.” “Medicare sets the reimbursement value for services,” she told me. Van Gorder taking home more than $16 million over several years, that’s a lot of “medical services.” OK, let’s get back to where we started — socialized medicine.
History of this topic
Column: Leaked SoCal hospital records reveal huge, automated markups for healthcare
LA TimesDiscover Related
