Aortic and Heart Assist Procedures Except Pulsation Balloon with Major Complications — what U.S. hospitals charge
MS-DRG 268 · Inpatient stay · 36 U.S. hospitals publish a price
Cheapest quarter
under $251,215
Typical charge
$335,587
Dearest quarter
over $492,542
Actually paid
$83,508
The middle U.S. hospital bills $335,587 for Aortic and Heart Assist Procedures Except Pulsation Balloon with Major Complications. The dearest hospitals charge about 3.0x what the cheapest do for the same coded work. Medicare actually paid about $83,508 per case.
These are charges, not quotes. What you pay depends on your insurance and your own case. The figures matter because the charge is where an uninsured or out-of-network bill starts.
Aortic and Heart Assist Procedures Except Pulsation Balloon with Major Complications cost by state
The middle charge in each state where at least three hospitals publish a price, cheapest first.
Where Aortic and Heart Assist Procedures Except Pulsation Balloon with Major Complications is charged least
Hospitals that performed it at least eleven times, so a single case cannot set the figure.
| Hospital | Charged | Actually paid |
|---|---|---|
|
Saint Joseph Hospital
Lexington, KY |
$142,868 | $54,069 |
|
University Of Maryland Medical Center
Baltimore, MD |
$143,638 | $132,012 |
|
Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center
Boston, MA |
$148,674 | $91,074 |
|
Saint Francis Hospital, Inc
Tulsa, OK |
$183,422 | $65,573 |
|
Johns Hopkins Hospital, The
Baltimore, MD |
$208,758 | $160,693 |
|
Memorial Hermann Hospital System
Houston, TX |
$210,190 | $53,049 |
|
Ssm Health St Anthony Hospital - Oklahoma City
Oklahoma City, OK |
$239,544 | $53,407 |
|
Duke University Hospital
Durham, NC |
$241,948 | $84,689 |
|
Hartford Hospital
Hartford, CT |
$244,102 | $77,623 |
|
Henry Ford Health Hospital
Detroit, MI |
$253,585 | $87,014 |
|
Sentara Norfolk General Hospital
Norfolk, VA |
$259,164 | $62,638 |
|
Uf Health Shands Hospital
Gainesville, FL |
$287,750 | $69,586 |
Where it is charged most
Hospitals that performed it at least eleven times, so a single case cannot set the figure.
| Hospital | Charged | Actually paid |
|---|---|---|
|
Nyu Langone Hospitals
New York, NY |
$937,441 | $129,018 |
|
Hca Houston Healthcare Kingwood
Kingwood, TX |
$819,912 | $54,879 |
|
Orlando Health
Orlando, FL |
$672,504 | $68,455 |
|
Ucsf Medical Center
San Francisco, CA |
$592,439 | $127,249 |
|
Methodist Hospital
San Antonio, TX |
$567,792 | $54,218 |
|
Keck Hospital Of Usc
Los Angeles, CA |
$556,603 | $118,658 |
|
Tampa General Hospital
Tampa, FL |
$539,894 | $69,092 |
|
Northwestern Memorial Hospital
Chicago, IL |
$500,008 | $88,746 |
|
Massachusetts General Hospital
Boston, MA |
$499,103 | $92,630 |
|
New York-Presbyterian Hospital
New York, NY |
$490,355 | $92,777 |
|
Honorhealth Scottsdale Osborn Medical Center
Scottsdale, AZ |
$489,062 | $58,424 |
|
Morristown Medical Center
Morristown, NJ |
$460,514 | $66,278 |
Questions people ask
What do U.S. hospitals charge for Aortic and Heart Assist Procedures Except Pulsation Balloon with Major Complications?
Across 36 U.S. hospitals, the middle charge for Aortic and Heart Assist Procedures Except Pulsation Balloon with Major Complications is $335,587. Half of hospitals charge less than that and half charge more. The cheapest quarter charge under $251,215 and the dearest quarter over $492,542.
Why do hospitals charge such different amounts for the same procedure?
Because a hospital charge is a list price it sets itself, not a regulated rate. For Aortic and Heart Assist Procedures Except Pulsation Balloon with Major Complications, the hospitals in the dearest tenth charge about 3.0x what the cheapest tenth charge for the same coded work. Insurers negotiate their own rates from those lists, which is why the charge and what is actually paid can be very far apart.
Is that what I would actually pay?
No. $83,508 is roughly what Medicare actually paid per case, against an average charge of $390,217. If you have insurance, your plan pays a negotiated rate and you pay your deductible and coinsurance. If you are uninsured or out of network, the hospital's charge is where your bill starts — which is why the gap matters. Ask for a written good-faith estimate before treatment.
What this code covers
CMS records this work as MS-DRG 268: “AORTIC AND HEART ASSIST PROCEDURES EXCEPT PULSATION BALLOON WITH MCC”. A DRG covers a whole inpatient stay rather than a single item, so the charge includes the room, the procedure and the care around it. Codes that mention complications carry a different, usually higher price.