A while ago there was an article about how the hospitals do a lousy job of pricing their services. They really don’t know how much it costs to set a broken leg, etc.
I think hospitals are poorly run and the management up at the top is way too greedy.
The issue isn’t that the procedures are not priced, or that you cannot find out what they will cost…the problem is that no two cases are the same. The costs come off the procedure codes. “A procedure” may consist of 50 different steps. Each one of those things carries a “price.” Each time they scan something—a prescription, a bandage, a surgery, anesthesia, etc…think of it as scanning cans at the grocery store. They all add up to the same bill.
The streps they take to treat me, a 63 year man in good health would be different than those taken for a 75 obese, diabetic smoker. I might be in and out, and never be considered “inpatient.” The higher risk patient might need more acute care; thus a higher cost.
There is simply no “procedure” called “set a broken leg.” It doesn’t work like that.