Hospital prices are public under federal rules, but in practice, experts say the data often sits in large files that are difficult to search or interpret.
Virginia Beach-based computer engineer Richard Callaghan built HospitalCost.com to help patients actually use that data to their advantage.
The platform compiles data from 17 federal sources that includes 58 hospitals in Virginia and North Carolina and the costs of 104 priced procedures.
On this website, users can compare hospital prices, insurance rates and estimated out-of-pocket costs. It also includes hospital quality measures such as infection rates, readmission rates and patient satisfaction scores.
“The data exists, the hospitals need to publish it, but how do we make it usable?’” Callaghan said. “It's really just giving people a choice for those $5,000 to $30,000 decisions where there's not a lot of information for them.”
The data shows that in Hampton Roads, where Sentara Health operates a large share of the region’s hospitals, prices for the same procedures are often nearly identical across facilities within the system.
That pattern differs from Northern Virginia, where multiple hospital systems compete and prices vary more widely, Callaghan said.
“Because there is that concentration where Sentara have, you know, 10 hospitals in Hampton Roads. So all the prices are pretty much identical,” Callaghan said. “So there's no price shopping leverage.”
Take the cash price of an MRI brain scan with contrast for example: Within a 25-mile radius of Chesapeake, all five Sentara hospitals charge the same price — $2,548 — while Chesapeake General Hospital offers the lowest price at $1,084.
In cases like this, patients can find wide price differences at hospitals outside dominant systems or at independent facilities, Callaghan said. Location can also play a major factor.
A CT chest scan without contrast ranges from about $1,000 to more than $8,000 depending on where in Virginia a procedure is performed. Chesapeake General Hospital and three Sentara hospitals in Hampton Roads all offer the scan in the $1,000 range, while Southside Community Hospital in Farmville lists a price of $8,531.
Callaghan said some price differences are tied to how insurance plans negotiate rates with hospitals.
His data shows that more than 40% of negotiated insurance rates are higher than listed cash prices. In those cases, patients who have not met their deductible could pay less by choosing a cash option instead of going through insurance.
For example, a coronary stent placement at Sentara Obici Hospital has a listed cash price of $7,924, while the negotiated rate for an Anthem plan reaches $45,618 — a difference of more than $37,000.
Callaghan said many patients may qualify for financial assistance programs but do not know until after they receive a bill.
He said he is working on getting more data on the website, like separating charges from surgeons, anesthesiologists and radiologists, which are often billed independently.
