Report: Patients pay less for hospital stays
Compared with other markets around the nation, South Florida patients pay lower prices for hospital stays lasting at least a night and higher prices for services that don’t require overnight stays, according to a new comparison of health care costs and spending.
The data was part of the 2015 Healthy Marketplace Report released by the Health Care Cost Institute and developed with funding from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The study compared health care prices and utilization against benchmarks across 41 metro areas, including eight in Florida.
The report does not draw conclusions about the quality or ef- fectiveness of care in the 41 metros, but makes the data available in hopes it will help researchers, employers and health plans determine how to allocate resources in the future, said Eric Barrette, the study’s director of research.
South Florida’s inpatient price index was .92 in 2013 — indicating that costs were 8 percent less than the study’s benchmark index for medical procedures requiring hospital stays of at least one night. Of the other Florida metros included in the study, Orlando was the highest at 1.25 and Sarasota was tied with South Florida for lowest at .92. Of all 41 metros studied, Fort Collins, Colo., was highest at 1.47 and Tucson, Ariz., was lowest at .72.
South Florida researchers could compare the area’s inpa- tient price index to other data measuring outcomes of inpatient care, Barrette said, and ask, “Are these low prices giving us good value and the same quality outcomes [as other areas with higher prices]? Or are we getting belowaverage outcomes?”
Prices might also be influenced by a high level of competition among hospitals in South Florida and wide use among them, he said. “You’d expect lower inpatient prices because all these hospitals are competing with each other.”
On the other hand, South Florida’s outpatient price index of 1.08 — highest of the Florida metros in the study — indicates that costs for same-day care and pro-