Powell Valley Healthcare to post prices online

Posted 12/22/20

On Jan. 1, Powell Valley Healthcare, along with all other hospitals in the U.S., will be posting its charges for various services online.

In June, President Donald Trump signed an executive …

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Powell Valley Healthcare to post prices online

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On Jan. 1, Powell Valley Healthcare, along with all other hospitals in the U.S., will be posting its charges for various services online.

In June, President Donald Trump signed an executive order, “Improving Price and Quality Transparency in American Healthcare,” which requires hospitals to provide more pricing transparency.

Over the past couple months, PVHC has been gathering pricing information in order to comply with the law by the New Year’s deadline. It’s been a challenge to provide that pricing transparency, said Joy Coulston, PVHC CFO, because medical procedures contain so many variables.

“An example would be a total knee replacement,” Coulston explained. “That price is dependent on the implant the physician determines is the best for the patient, how long the procedure takes and any additional drugs or supplies required.”

Despite these difficulties, Coulston said patients should have no trouble getting an idea up front of what their costs will be, and many items contain less variability. These include X-rays, MRIs, clinic office visits and specific lab tests.

Coulston said the list on PVHC’s website will be very comprehensive, as the law requires every hospital to list its entire charge description master list, which is basically every item they bill for as of Jan. 1, 2021.

Besides posting the master list data, the website will also have a searchable document with 300 services PVHC offers.

To see the price list after Jan. 1, go to www.pvhc.org.

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