The following is a summary of “Cash critical care time prices vary substantially by region and hospital ownership: A cross-sectional study,” published in the March 2024 issue of Emergency Medicine by Zitek, et al.

For a study, researchers sought to determine the median cash (self-pay) prices for critical care time performed in the Emergency Department (ED) in the United States and evaluate associations between hospital characteristics and prices.

A cross-sectional analysis of hospital cash prices for critical care time in the ED was conducted using data from the first 25 alphabetical states. Hospital characteristics such as state, control (nonprofit, governmental, or for-profit), size, teaching status, and system were recorded for each hospital. Cash prices for current procedural terminology codes 99291 and 99292 were obtained from Turquoise and hospital websites. Median prices for 99291 nationally, regionally, and large hospital systems were determined. Multivariable quantile regression was used to assess associations between hospital characteristics and prices for 99291.

Of 2,629 eligible hospitals, 2,245 (85.4%) and 1,893 (72.0%) reported cash prices for 99291 and 99292, respectively. The cash price for 99291 ranged from $45 to $84,775, with a median of $1,816 (IQR: $1,039-3,237). For 99292, the median price was $567 (IQR: $298–1008). Multivariable analysis revealed that hospitals in the West, for-profit institutions, and those part of large systems had higher cash prices for 99291. Mainly, hospitals owned by Tenet Healthcare had the highest median price for 99291 ($28,244).

Cash prices for critical care time exhibited substantial variation based on hospital characteristics, with for-profit hospitals and those in the West tend to charge the most. Given that patients requiring essential care often lack the ability to choose their presenting hospital, standardization of critical care time fees warrants consideration.

Reference: sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0735675723006885