Who can get closest to guessing what Sacred Heart Hospital charged for one CT Scan?

George H.W. Bush was once asked "how much does a loaf of bread cost?"
George didn't have a clue.

So let's see how much you know about the price of health care locally.

The person with the closest guess will receive two free tickets to the best upcoming Pensacola show.
I will reveal the answer later today.

I voted $4,000-5,000. I would like to change it. I think it will be $6,000-$7,000.

http://health.costhelper.com/ct-scan.html

are you wanting just the cost of the CT scan or are you adding a bunch of other stuff in too? also, what was scanned matters.

I have a feeling you are going to jack it up to the highest list price you see on the "DONT PAY THIS AMOUNT" portion of your bill.   

Is the cost helper accurate btw?

Dot wrote:http://health.costhelper.com/ct-scan.html

are you wanting just the cost of the CT scan or are you adding a bunch of other stuff in too? also, what was scanned matters.

I have a feeling you are going to jack it up to the highest list price you see on the "DONT PAY THIS AMOUNT" portion of your bill.   

Is the cost helper accurate btw?

Regular charges differ from actual payments. No insurance cash pay, insurance allowed charge, medicare allowed charge,and patient portion of charges.

Joanimaroni wrote:

Dot wrote:http://health.costhelper.com/ct-scan.html

are you wanting just the cost of the CT scan or are you adding a bunch of other stuff in too? also, what was scanned matters.

I have a feeling you are going to jack it up to the highest list price you see on the "DONT PAY THIS AMOUNT" portion of your bill.   

Is the cost helper accurate btw?

Regular charges differ from actual payments. No insurance cash pay, insurance allowed charge, medicare allowed charge,and  patient portion of charges.

yep

With or without contrast!

Ghost Rider wrote:With or without contrast!

Upper, middle, and lower abd CT With contrast...... The details were listed in the poll question.

This is how the CEO would LIKE to charge.
!. Hook up the patient to an EKG machine
2. Start off with a very high price watching the machine.
3. Start adding charges to the original bill
4. Watch the machine closely as the charges pile up
5. Right before the patient suffers a coronary infarction stop the charges.

Yella wrote:This is how the CEO would LIKE to charge.
!.  Hook up the patient to an EKG machine
2. Start off with a very high price watching the machine.
3. Start adding charges to the original bill
4. Watch the machine closely as the charges pile up
5. Right before the patient suffers a coronary infarction stop the charges.

We have a winner!!!

I guessed between $8,000 and $9,000.

My December scans were two charges of 3,000 and 6,600 for a total of $9,600. They did a liver and lung scan. In December I did not have to swallow that chalk crap.

By the way,   a loaf of bread is $1 at Dollar Tree,  Sav-A-Lot,  the discount retail bakeries and sometimes at the other supermarkets when it's on sale.
But some folks say that cheap bread sucks.  Although I'm sure in Jesus' time they would have loved it.

Sal wrote:Going to hospitals for diagnostic procedures is akin to taking your car into the dealership for simple repairs. 


You're gonna get raped. 

A effing Men.

A friend who lives near Baton Rouge had to go to the ER recently.
He's medicare/blue cross so he was covered.  But he got the insurance statement and asked me to guess what the ER visit cost.  And this is just for the basic ER visit and not diagnostic tests (scans etc not included).

I guessed $1500.   I was way off.  The hospital in Baton Rouge billed $11,000.

Since you haven't revealed yet I voted $10,000 plus.

They probably didn't like it when you brought your own dye and a box of milk duds.

Bet Medicare pays a little over $800

They probably didn't like it when you brought your own dye and a box of milk duds.


It was his can of coke in his cargo pants when he had an MRI which created the biggest problem.

Here's what Medicare pays for a CT of the abd w/contrast. Barely over $300.

http://www.cms.gov/apps/physician-fee-schedule/search/search-results.aspx?Y=0&T=0&HT=0&CT=3&H1=74160&M=1

If you want CT of abd and pelvis CPT code to check is 74177 is just under $400.

My guess is you are adding up ALL the charges.

It was just a tad over 10,000 smackers.  That was the billed charge.
But then there was another figure that said $7400. I say "another figure" because it wasn't clear to me what exactly that amount was referring to.
But the billed charge was $10,000+

We have four winners.  Your winning tickets will get you a front row seat at Plaza de Luna for the seagull show.  Just tell the seagulls you have tickets and they'll be okay with that.

Here is a question for the medical folks on this forum. Why can't I get a group of investors and buy a cat scan machine and have them set up at a walmart parking lot with a simple pole barn building next to the building where people choose a doctor online when they book their appointment, and the doctor will order the test and we will run the machine 24/7 and charge 200 bucks a scan running them in 15 minute intervals. Have a nurse practitioner on duty to give a quick physical and prep for $25, and charge $25 to give the patient their cd of the scan which they can take to any doctor for a second opinion, but a centralized group of radiologist in India would give an initial review of the scan and request the scan be reviewed by a Doctor in that state. $250.00 why can't it be done?

http://www.rugbymedical.com/GE-LightSpeed-RT-16-CT-Scanner-p/rt-16-ct-scanner.htm?gclid=CMSR4cD5iL0CFaN9OgodUHEA4Q


capitalize at 300k for the cat scan set up, 50k for the pole barn and interior finishes, 50k for systems and furnishings, and 200k for four PA's for approximately 600k annual bare bones operation. 19k a day full capacity, would pay you back in a month, but assume 50% utilization or 10k a day gross receipts it would take 2 months to get your money back, and three million potential profit off one store which you cut in half assuming everything is more expensive and utilization will not be near capacity........1.5 million profit for a 600k investment. Why is this not happening, and why are we getting 10k scan bills? Anybody think this is more about medical union rules rather than what is best for the patients?

2seaoat wrote:Here is a question for the medical folks on this forum. Why can't I get a group of investors and buy a cat scan machine and have them set up at a walmart parking lot with a simple pole barn building next to the building where people choose a doctor online when they book their appointment, and the doctor will order the test and we will run the machine 24/7 and charge 200 bucks a scan running them in 15 minute intervals. Have a nurse practitioner on duty to give a quick physical and prep for $25, and charge $25 to give the patient their cd of the scan which they can take to any doctor for a second opinion, but a centralized group of radiologist in India would give an initial review of the scan and request the scan be reviewed by a Doctor in that state. $250.00 why can't it be done?

Government regulations

installed pricing on refurbished CT scanners:

4 Slice: $65,000 - $90,000*
16 Slice: $120,000 - $160,000*
64 Slice: $175,000 - $300,000*

http://info.blockimaging.com/bid/67932/How-Much-Does-a-CT-Scanner-Cost