Thursday, 14 June 2007
High Price Equals High Quality Healthcare, Right? Maybe Not
Everyone knows hospital bills are expensive. But you (or your insurance company) are paying for top-notch healthcare. At least, that’s what everyone thought.
But a new study by the Pennsylvania state government is raising doubts. They surveyed 60 hospitals in the state that performed heart bypass surgery, comparing average cost with patients’ lengths of stay and death rates. The results? You don’t always get what you pay for.
On average, the most expensive hospitals charged $100,000 for the surgery. The least expensive hospitals charged an average of $20,000. The death rates and the amount of time spent in hospital recuperating were roughly the same for both.
Even more disturbing: 2 of the most expensive hospitals in the Philadelphia area had death rates that were surprisingly high.
“For most consumers, the fact that there is no connection between quality and cost is one of the dirty secrets of medicine,” said Peter V. Lee, of the Pacific Business Group on Health.
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