Iowa Hospital PricePoint

Iowa Hospitals: An Exceptional Value in Health Care

Across the state, Iowa hospitals offer an excellent value in health care. The quality of care in Iowa hospitals has been documented in nationwide studies. For example, a study reported in the Journal of the American Medical Association ranked Iowa sixth in the nation for quality of care provided to Medicare patients. Similarly, the United Health Foundation has consistently ranked Iowa as one the nation's 10 healthiest states, in part because Iowans have easy access to high quality hospital care.

In comparison to the rest of the nation, hospital care in Iowa is also affordable. Data from the American Hospital Association shows Iowa hospitals' charges for outpatient care and inpatient care rank 45th and 50th in the nation, respectively. Many states charge more than twice as much as Iowa. And compared to the U.S. average, Iowa hospitals' charges for inpatient care are 46 percent lower, and charges for outpatient care are 31 lower.

Iowa Hospital PricePoint allows you to further explore and compare the value offered by Iowa hospitals.

Understanding Hospital "Charges"

Iowa Hospital PricePoint allows health care consumers to access basic information about services and charges at Iowa hospitals. Information provided on the Web site is based on hospital "charges."

A hospital "charge" is not the same as "expected payment." "Charge" is the amount billed for a service. In the vast majority of cases, hospitals are paid considerably less than the billed amount. Because each person's case is different based on that patient's medical condition, a given patient's charge will not necessarily be the same as the average or median charge. Furthermore, the actual amount paid by a patient will depend on that patient's insurance coverage.

Iowa Hospital PricePoint should be considered a starting point for comparing costs of care between Iowa hospitals. Patients should contact individual hospitals to get further details about the possible cost of their care. Patients should also talk with their insurance provider to understand which costs will be covered, and which will be the patient's.