(Bloomberg) — U.S. hospitals are charging prices that can be thousands of dollars different for the same medical procedures, even within the same towns, according to federal data released Tuesday.
The data from more than 3,000 hospitals that take Medicare, the government’s health program for the elderly, showed that in some cases costs can drastically vary for hip replacements, bone fractures and treatments for kidney failure. Three hospitals in and around the Denver suburb of Aurora, Colo., alternately charged $97,214, $46,457 and $28,237 to treat a respiratory infection with complications, according to one example.
