Union Releases Priciest Hospital List
A new report by an Oakland-based labor union revealed the nation's most costly hospitals, with a dozen of the top 100 located in California.
According to a research institute affiliated with the National Nurses United, 12 of the most 100 expensive hospitals in the U.S. are located in California. Ten are either owned by for-profit companies or hospital chains.
The most expensive, Olympia Medical Center in Los Angeles, is a physician-owned facility. Its charges are 1,034% higher than its actual costs, making it the 13th most-expensive hospital in the nation.
Three of the facilities are owned and operated by Dallas-based Tenet Healthcare Corp. Doctors Hospital of Manteca, Doctors Hospital of Modesto and Twin Cities Community Hospital in Templeton charge 967%, 957% and 813% above their costs, respectively.
“Such inflated practices continue to price far too many Americans out of access to needed medical care or expose them to financial ruin,” said Jean Ross, National Nurses United's co-president.
Other hospitals in California on the list are owned by AHMC Health Care, Prime Healthcare Services, Providence Health & Services, Community Health Systems, and Avanti Hospitals. Lodi Memorial Hospital, a not-for-profit standalone facility, charged 811% of its costs.
The study, performed by the Institute for Health & Socio-Economic Policy, is based on Medicare cost reports released by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services.
