Mercy Medical Center Offers Online
Pricing Tool For Health Care Consumers
Mercy Medical Center , 701 10th St. SE , is taking a leading role in promoting health care transparency by providing consumers with online pricing information, starting today. A new Web site unveiled by the Iowa Hospital Association (IHA) provides free access to an unprecedented level of detail about charges and services at many Iowa hospitals, including Mercy Medical Center .
The Web site, known as “Iowa Hospital PricePoint,” allows users to easily access charge information about inpatient hospitalization. Consumers may access the information through the Mercy Medical Center Web site at www.mercycare.org or through the Iowa Hospitalization Web site at www.iahonline.org.
“Mercy Medical Center is proud to be part of this new initiative to help consumers make informed decisions about their health care costs,” said Tim Charles, president & CEO, Mercy Medical Center . “Mercy is committed to voluntarily providing public information and accountability.”
The PricePoint Web site displays the four most recently reported quarters of data from all Iowa hospitals, and will include information about all inpatient hospitalizations. PricePoint allows users to compare hospital inpatient charge data for up to four hospitals simultaneously. In addition, users can compare inpatient charges according to the severity of illness within a particular service area.
The severity-of-illness feature is important, because while hospitals may treat a similar number of patients who have a particular condition, those same patients may be very different in terms of the severity of that condition. Generally, patients with a higher severity of illness will stay in the hospital longer and incur higher charges.
In most cases, out-of-pocket hospital costs for privately insured patients are determined by their health insurance policies. However, a growing number of Iowa residents are being covered by what are known as “consumer-directed health plans,” under which the billed charge may factor into the amount a patient would ultimately pay for a specific procedure. Patients should contact hospitals directly for the most accurate estimate of actual costs for a given procedure.
Mercy Medical Center is a member of the Iowa Hospital Association. The IHA represents hospital and health system interests to business, government and consumer audiences.
