The South Carolina Hospital Association this week launched a new website that will make it easier for consumers to find the best healthcare prices, according to a report in The Post and Courier.
The website, scpricepoint.org, lets patients compare charges for various services and procedures. Fifty-one hospitals throughout the state submitted data for the website. Trident Health, which is owned by Nashville, Tenn.-based Hospital Corporation of America, is the only Charleston-area hospital that did not submit numbers.
Thorton Kirby, president of the Hospital Association, said the charges listed on the new website are only the inflated sticker price for procedures. Patients covered by Medicare, Medicaid or a private insurer pay less. The website urges patients to directly contact their insurance companies to attain more accurate information about the costs they will be responsible for when receiving treatment.
"Even if we can't give them perfect information, we can give them better information than what we've been doing," said Mr. Kirby.
The announcement of the website is a sign of increased price transparency in the healthcare industry. The South Carolina Department of Health and Human Services launched a transparency website in 2014. Massachusetts insurers have also been asked to increase price transparency online.