EMedConcepts

WSJ.com - California Hospitals Open Books, Showing Huge Price Differences

Link: WSJ.com - California Hospitals Open Books, Showing Huge Price Differences. (subscription required)

A new law in California mandates that hospitals there do what few hospitals in America will: open up their "chargemasters," books that show thousands of list prices for medical goods and services. An examination of chargemasters at several hospitals shows that pricing strategies fluctuate wildly -- on everything from brain scans to painkillers to leeches. Depending on a hospital's pricing method, the charge for the same commodity or service, such as a blood test, can vary by as much as 17-fold from one institution to another.

VA Chief, Prinipi, Quits with Budget Cuts Looming

So the VA Chief, Prinipi, is quitting. It probably doesn't have much to do with the $900 Million plus cut anticipated in the DVA budget which will mostly fall on healthcare since that's the largest part of the DVA budget. This at the time when our military men and women will be returning from Iraq. Just a small precursor of the coming cuts in Medicare. Stay tuned.

Bloomberg Dec 9 2004 1:24AM GMT [Moreover - moreover...]