Estimating inpatient hospital prices from state administrative data and hospital financial reports.

ABSTRACT:

Objective

To develop a tool for estimating hospital-specific inpatient prices for major payers.

Data sources

AHRQ Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project State Inpatient Databases and complete hospital financial reporting of revenues mandated in 10 states for 2006.

Study design

Hospital discharge records and hospital financial information were merged to estimate revenue per stay by payer. Estimated prices were validated against other data sources.

Principal findings

Hospital prices can be reasonably estimated for 10 geographically diverse states. All-payer price-to-charge ratios, an intermediate step in estimating prices, compare favorably to cost-to-charge ratios. Estimated prices also compare well with Medicare, MarketScan private insurance, and the Medical E

SUBMITTER: Levit KR 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3796114 | biostudies-literature | 2013 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature