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Patients, employers, and taxpayers are charged billions more simply because of where they receive care. This is because big hospital systems are buying up small physician practices and increasing prices for the same routine services. 

And it’s happening across the system. Medicare patients often pay two to three times more for the same routine services at a hospital outpatient department compared to an independent doctor’s office. And those with private health insurance face higher prices for routine care in hospital-owned facilities in many cases. 

A study found that on average, patients with multiple myeloma who received treatment at a hospital facility were charged more than twice the amount in out-of-pocket costs than those getting the same treatment at an independent doctor’s office.

These unfair billing practices create incentives for hospitals to continue to buy up physician practices and rebrand them as hospital outpatient facilities to charge higher prices.

This kind of consolidation leads to higher prices, which translate into higher premiums and cost sharing for patients and leaves patients with fewer choices for receiving care.

And it costs taxpayers billions. The Congressional Budget Office estimates that site-neutral payment reforms could save Medicare nearly $140 billion over the next decade.

We‘re calling on Congress to act now to advance site-neutral payment and billing transparency reforms to protect against unfair billing practices that lead to excessive health care prices.