Free Daily Headlines :

  • COVID-19
  • Vaccine Info
  • Money
  • Politics
  • Education
  • Health
  • Justice
  • More
    • Environment
    • Economic Development
    • Gaming
    • Investigations
    • Social Services
    • TRANSPORTATION
  • Opinion
    • CT Viewpoints
    • CT Artpoints
DONATE
Reflecting Connecticut’s Reality.
    COVID-19
    Vaccine Info
    Money
    Politics
    Education
    Health
    Justice
    More
    Environment
    Economic Development
    Gaming
    Investigations
    Social Services
    TRANSPORTATION
    Opinion
    CT Viewpoints
    CT Artpoints

LET�S GET SOCIAL

Show your love for great stories and out standing journalism

CT hospitals collect $1.2B in outpatient facility fees over three years

  • Health
  • by Jake Kara
  • September 18, 2018
  • View as "Clean Read" "Exit Clean Read"

[Editor’s Note: Some numbers in this story were updated Friday, Sept. 21, when the state’s Office of Health Strategy released a corrected document with revised visit counts. The original document is archived here, and the corrected document is here.]

Mackenzie Rigg :: CTMirror.org

Vicki Veltri, executive director of the Office of Health Strategy

Connecticut hospitals and health networks have received an estimated $1.2 billion in outpatient facility fees from 2015 through 2017, according to data released this week.

These fees are collected for a wide-range of services, including oncology, eye surgery and psychotherapy, provided at off-site facilities run by hospitals and health networks.

While fees can vary tremendously from one procedure to the next, that $1.2 billion averages out to $345 for each of the 3.6 million visits in which these fees were collected. On an annual basis, that fee per visit figure was relatively steady, declining slightly, from $347 to $346 to $341, over the three years.

In 2017, the hospitals received about $410 million from the fees, not far off from the $417 million received in 2016 and $405 million the year before, according to the new Office of Health Strategy.

There were 1,204,276 visits in which fees were collected in 2017, compared with 1,203,891 in 2016 and 1,167,028 in 2015.

These figures are just estimates, however, because when an insurance company pays a bill — often less than the hospital actually charged — the hospital doesn’t get a precise number for how much of that payment goes toward the facility fee.

For example, if a hospital charges $1,000, including a $30 facility fee, but ends up receiving $900 from an insurance company, the hospital can’t say precisely how much of the facility fee was reimbursed.

Hospitals have been required to submit facility fee data to the state since 2015. The state passed the disclosure law in response to concerns about a lack of transparency surrounding the charges. In addition to filing the data with the state, hospitals are also required to notify patients when they will be charged a facility fee and clearly identify these fees on patient bills.

While the statewide average fee per visit held pretty steady in that $345-ballpark, the per-visit average can vary significantly from one hospital system to the next.

That could be because of many factors, including differences in how many and what types of procedures each system performs and for which it collects fees, health officials said.

“I would just be cautious generalizing the overall number because services could vary a lot,” said Vicki Veltri, executive director of the Office of Health Strategy.

The way the data are currently reported by hospitals under state law doesn’t offer a detailed look at how much money different hospitals are receiving for the same types of procedures and services.

“That’s not a reflection of what the hospitals are giving us, because they’re following the statute,” Veltri said.

Veltri said she’s hopeful her office will be able to use more detailed data to get a clearer picture of how these fees contribute to health care costs.

“If we could get to the actual charges for the facility fees and the reimbursements for those fees, that would tell us a lot,” she said.

Another factor that could be influencing these figures from year to year is that in January 2017, a law went into effect limiting the types of services for which facility fees can be collected.

Nine hospitals don’t collect outpatient facility fees, either because they don’t have outpatient facilities or because they choose not to do so.

The Connecticut Hospital Association, which represents 27 acute care hospitals in the state, said facility fees are necessary to maintain the financial health of hospital systems.

“Facility fees are due in part to the higher cost structure associated with regulatory requirements, as well the complex infrastructure and technology required at the facility,” said Stephen Frayne, senior vice president of health policy at CHA, in a statement.

Sign up for CT Mirror's free daily news summary.

Free to Read. Not Free to Produce.

The Connecticut Mirror is a nonprofit newsroom. 90% of our revenue comes from people like you. If you value our reporting please consider making a donation. You'll enjoy reading CT Mirror even more knowing you helped make it happen.

YES, I'LL DONATE TODAY

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Jake Kara Jake is a former managing editor of The Ridgefield Press, a Hersam Acorn newspaper. He worked for the community newspaper chain as a reporter and editor for five years before joining the Mirror staff. He studied professional writing at Western Connecticut State University and is a graduate student in software engineering at Harvard Extension School.

SEE WHAT READERS SAID

RELATED STORIES
Can independent primary care doctors survive dominance of hospital health systems?
by Peggy McCarthy | C-HIT.ORG

hospital systems and private businesses are increasingly buying private medical practices and taking over their business operations.

Nearly three quarters of eligible CT residents expected to be vaccinated by end of April
by Jenna Carlesso

Since Thursday, 50,000 residents age 16 to 44 – the newest group granted access – received a first dose of the vaccine.

With demand for community health workers rising, so does need for sustainable funding
by Cara Rosner | C-HIT.ORG

New Haven Community Health Worker (CHW) Katia Astudillo helps dozens of her clients navigate the logistics of getting vaccinated and connects them with other health services. She even helps them find rental assistance. In and around New London, CHW Lizbeth Polo-Smith hands out flyers about COVID-19 safety and vaccinations at churches, laundromats, stores, warming centers […]

The vaccine effect: COVID cases jump, not hospitalizations or fatalities
by Mark Pazniokas

Officials credit Connecticut’s success in vaccinating older residents for keeping the COVID-19 death rate low as cases rise.

More than 1,800 people could get vaccinated at home under new DPH program
by Dave Altimari and Jenna Carlesso

Residents who wish to receive a vaccine at home must assert they are physically unable to get to a clinic.

Support Our Work

Show your love for great stories and outstanding journalism.

$
Select One
  • Monthly
  • Yearly
  • Once
Artpoint painter
CT ViewpointsCT Artpoints
Opinion College students in Connecticut should be vaccinated now
by Dayna Vadala

If the state of Connecticut wants its institutions of higher learning to return to normal in the fall, it’s going to have to get shots into the arms of the students.

Opinion Connecticut, be a International leader against hair discrimination among children
by Faith D. Crittenden, Jade A. Anderson, MD, and Whitney L. Stuard

On March 1, 2020, Connecticut became the eighth state to pass the Crown Act, a national legislative movement that recognizes natural hair and cultural headwear discrimination as a form of racial discrimination in the workplace. While we are  in strong support and advocate for this law, it is important to recognize the limitations of the Crown Act and how it can be improved upon in future policy.

Opinion Three lessons for schools across America from Secretary Cardona’s hometown
by Mark Benigni

Over the past decade, Meriden Public Schools -- where U.S. Education Secretary Miguel Cardona served as assistant superintendent -- has become a unique laboratory for new ideas that push the boundaries of what is possible in public education. And many of those ideas have paid off.

Opinion A healthcare system too broken to fix
by Sosena Kedebe MD

On March 25, the White house announced that it was going to invest over $6 billion in health centers that are funded through the Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) in order to expand COVID-19 vaccinations and other health services provided to vulnerable populations. As a chief medical officer for a health center that is strained to reach some of the most disenfranchised patient population in Hartford, this was great news. Yet there was a part of me that took the news with a deep concern. Why you might ask?

Artwork Grand guidance
by Anne:Gogh

In a world of systemic oppression aimed towards those of darker skintones – representation matters. We are more than our equity elusive environments, more than numbers in a prison and much more than victims of societal dispositions. This piece depicts a melanated young man draped in a cape ascending high above multiple forms of oppression. […]

Artwork Shea
by Anthony Valentine

Shea is a story about race and social inequalities that plague America. It is a narrative that prompts the question, “Do you know what it’s like to wake up in new skin?”

Artwork The Declaration of Human Rights
by Andres Chaparro

Through my artwork I strive to create an example of ideas that reflect my desire to raise social consciousness, and cultural awareness. Jazz music is the catalyst to all my work, and plays a major influence in each piece of work.”

Artwork ‘A thing of beauty. Destroy it forever’
by Richard DiCarlo | Derby

During times like these it’s often fun to revisit something familiar and approach things with a different slant. I have been taking some Pop culture and Art masterpieces and applying the vintage 1960’s and 70’s classic figures (Fisher Price, little people) to the make an amusing pieces. Here is my homage to Fisher -Price, Yellow […]

Twitter Feed
A Twitter List by CTMirror

Engage

  • Reflections Tickets & Sponsorships
  • Events
  • Donate
  • Newsletter Sign-Up
  • Submit to Viewpoints
  • Submit to ArtPoints
  • Economic Indicator Dashboard
  • Speaking Engagements
  • Commenting Guidelines
  • Legal Notices
  • Contact Us

About

  • About CT Mirror
  • Announcements
  • Board
  • Staff
  • Sponsors and Funders
  • Donors
  • Friends of CT Mirror
  • History
  • Financial
  • Policies
  • Strategic Plan

Opportunity

  • Advertising and Sponsorship
  • Speaking Engagements
  • Use of Photography
  • Work for Us

Go Deeper

  • Steady Habits Podcast
  • Economic Indicator Dashboard
  • Five Things

The Connecticut News Project, Inc. 1049 Asylum Avenue, Hartford, CT 06105. Phone: 860-218-6380

© Copyright 2021, The Connecticut News Project. All Rights Reserved. Website by Web Publisher PRO