Price Transparency
In accordance with new requirements from the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), effective January 1, 2019, all hospitals must make public a list of standard charges from their "hospital charge master."
Greene County Medical Center's "charge master" includes hundreds of charges for procedures, laboratory testing, pharmaceuticals and professional services. However, it does not include the many charges that could be associated with tests or treatments.
Professional fees for services provided by independent practitioners, such as your primary care provider, surgeon, radiologist, pathologist, anesthesiologist, or other specialist are not included in the "charge master" lists.
Other circumstances that can impact actual costs include:
- Level of care or service
- Surgery or recovery circumstances, such as length of time
- Equipment, supplies and medications required
- Additional tests required by your provider
- Unexpected conditions or complications
Therefore, charges vary by each patient experience and level of service. You should consult with your primary provider and other service providers about their charges. You should always contact your insurance provider for specific information about coverage under your specific health plan.
We appreciate that all of this can be confusing and difficult for patients to use efficiently. We therefore strongly recommend you use these lists as a guide and, if you have further questions, to please call our business office at 515-386-2114, where a billing specialist can help you through the process of finding the best estimate of charges for services required for your good health.
Charges listing updated as of March 08, 2023.
Iowa Hospital Website Charge Comparisons
We report charges for inpatient and outpatient services to the Iowa Hospital Association. This information is published on a publicly available database that provides average charges for services at Greene County Medical Center, as well as other Iowa hospitals.
You can access this information at the IHA website.
The cost information is an estimate of hospital charges. The amount for which an individual patient is responsible can vary depending on health insurance plan.
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Under the “Transparency in Coverage” Final Rule (TiC), issued in 2020 by the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, U.S. Department of Labor, and U.S. Department of the Treasury, effective 7/1/22, non-Grandfathered health plans (which include employers who sponsor employee benefit plans) and health insurance issuers must publicly post pricing data known as the “machine-readable files” or (“MRFs”). The point of the release of these cost data files has nothing to do with communication to employees or plan participants, but instead, in the name of health cost transparency, this rule requires insurance companies and self-insured plans to publicize what they pay providers for medical services and make that available to the public.
Wellmark Blue Cross and Blue Shield - Machine Readable Files (MRFs) (healthsparq.com)
Updated July 1, 2022