States Aim to Rein in Outpatient Facility Fees

  • Jul 26, 2024

    States have been pursuing reforms that would limit hospitals’ ability to charge facility fees for routine medical services delivered in outpatient settings, which drove up enrollees’ premiums and out-of-pocket health care costs, according to a study by Georgetown University’s Center on Health Insurance Reforms.

    Facility fees are charges from hospitals and other institutional health care providers that ostensibly cover their operational expenses for providing care. When hospitals acquire or affiliate with physician practices and other outpatient health care providers — a trend seen in the U.S. in recent years — ambulatory services provided at outpatient practices often generate a second bill for the facility fee on top of the professional fees the practitioners charge.

    Read more
    © 2024 MMIT
  • Jinghong Chen

    Jinghong has been producing infographics and data stories on employer-sponsored insurance, public health insurance programs and prescription drug coverage for AIS Health’s Health Plan Weekly and Radar on Drug Benefits since 2018. She also manages AIS Health’s annual executive compensation database for top insurers and Blue Cross and Blue Shield affiliates. Before joining AIS Health, she interned at WBEZ, Al Jazeera English and The New York Times Chinese. She graduated from Missouri School of Journalism with a focus on data journalism and international reporting.

The Latest
Meet Our Reporters

Meet Our Reporters

×
×