Tenet-owned hospital tops ‘expensive’ list in Nevada

By Emily Richmond

Friday, June 13, 2003 | 11:10 a.m.

Lake Mead Medical Center in North Las Vegas was ranked Nevada's most expensive hospital, with charges marked up 476 percent over actual costs, according to a report commissioned by the California Nurses Association.

The report by the Institute for Health and Socio-Economic Policy compared all hospital charges for in-patient and out-patient services and other financial catagories. On average the nation's 100 most expensive hospitals marked up their charges by 525 percent over costs, the study said.

The nation's highest markup was at Doctors Medical Center in Modesto, Calif., with a ratio of 1,092 percent. That meant doctors would bill $10,092 for a patient's case when the actual costs were $1,000, the report said. The Modesto medical center is operated by Tenet Health Care, which also owns Lake Mead Medical Center.

"These numbers, and the wide chasm in billing practices, suggests that some hospitals, particularly those that command a large market share, may be inflating gross charges to make windfall profits or net net income, while many other smaller facilities are struggling simply to keep the doors open," said institute director Don DeMoro in a written statement.

Of the 100 most expensive hospitals nationwide, Tenet owns the top 14 and held 64 spots on the list. Lake Mead came in at No. 57 nationwide.

Officials for Tenet declined comment this morning because they had not yet reviewed the report.

The Valley Health System, owned by Universal Health Services Inc., had three of its Las Vegas hospitals in the state's top 10 list, with Valley Hospital Medical Center coming in second at 415 percent. Summerlin Hospital, was No. 5 with a ratio of 365 percent, and Desert Springs Hospital No. 6 with 346 percent. The company's Northern Nevada Medical Center finished at No. 10 with 278 percent.

Mike Tymczyn, marketing director for the Valley Health System, said his organization has "some serious issues" with the union's report.

"This takes into account irrelevant statistics that don't show the whole picture of quality health care," Tymczyn said this morning. "The Valley Health System stands by the quality care it has been providing for more than 30 years in Las Vegas. It stands by its rate structure, which is standard with Medicare across the board."

Sunrise Hospital and Medical Center, owned by HCA, was third in Nevada with a charge-to-cost ratio of 389 percent. HCA also owns MountainView Hospital, ranked No. 7 with 343 percent.

Cheryl Smith, spokeswoman for Sunrise and MountainView, said the union's report is misleading because it does not report how much hospitals were actually reimbursed for the charges. At Sunrise for every dollar in billed charges, 69 percent ends up written off because of insufficient reimbursements from Medicaid, Medicare and managed health organizations, Smith said.

If Sunrise billed a $1,000 procedure at $3,089, as the union claims, the actual reimbursement would be $1,167, Smith said.

"That's about a 16 percent margin, which I would say is far from unreasonable," Smith said. "It's misleading and irresponsible to suggest to a community that something terrible is happening here when that's clearly not the case."