An announcement that Greenwood’s Self Regional Hospital would cut some rates as much as 15 percent appears to be unprecedented in the state, according to some industry experts. The nonprofit hospital said customers would reap the financial rewards of changes that would lead to reduced rates beginning in October.
Self said in a statement that the average overall reduction would be five percent. Outpatient lab work will be reduced by 10 percent, imaging services by 15 percent.
“This seems to be a first, but since we don’t monitor hospital rate increases and decreases, we can’t absolutely verify or provide any meaningful background,” said Shalama Jackson, spokesperson for the South Carolina Hospitals Association. “But we do congratulate Self.”
The hospital said cost savings will come as a result of increased efficiency of work processes, staffing adjustments to meet volumes in real time, and a focus on reduced pharmaceutical and supply costs.
According to Chief Financial Officer Tim Evans, the rate reduction will directly impact what health care purchasers will pay, including individuals and insurance companies.
“We made the decision to reduce the charges for outpatient lab and outpatient imaging services based on community input and the high utilization of these procedures,” Evans said. “Laboratory and imaging procedures are some of our highest volume procedures on an outpatient basis and are services where our patients could see immediate benefits in a cost reduction.
“Price reductions in these commonly used services help us bend the price curve down for the majority of our patients.”
In fiscal year 2012, Self Regional provided more than 13,000 outpatient lab procedures and more than 50,000 outpatient imaging procedures.
The rates recently announced will go into effect for the hospital’s fiscal year beginning Oct. 1, 2013, and ending Sept. 30, 2014. Evans could not say whether the reductions would continue after that period or comment on any future rates.
Hospital rates nationwide have received increased scrutiny since the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services published a list showing wildly differing rates at 3,337 hospitals located in 306 metropolitan areas earlier this summer, even within the same community. The move aimed to foster increased transparency in hospital pricing.
