Hospital Charges
Jasper General Hospital Charges
The Affordable Care Act requires hospitals to make public their standard charges for items and services provided by the hospital . The CMS final rule allows hospitals to either make public a list of their charges (their charge master or another form of their choice) or their policy for allowing the public to view a list of those charges. The stated intent of the federal rule is to help patients understand what their potential financial liability might be for services provided and to compare charges for similar services across hospitals. For a patient to adequately assess their financial liability for the medical services they receive from any hospital they need to contact their insurance company and determine which services are covered and non-covered, their deductible, and any other out pocket payments they may incur. The hospital charge master does not indicate what a hospital receives in reimbursement; that is determined by Payor contracts and the allowable set by the payors. If a patient does not have insurance, they can contact the hospital directly