A new study, published in Health Affairs, found wide variation in hospital facility costs for maternity stays involving low-risk childbirth. Hospital costs for women who had no maternal or obstetric risk factors to complicate childbirth ranged from less than $2,000 to nearly $12,000, the analysis of discharge data found, writes Kaiser Health News. The wide variation in cost means that for expectant parents, it can pay to shop around. The study analyzed data from 267,120 births at 463 hospitals that were collected from the 2011 Nationwide Inpatient Sample, part of a project sponsored by the federal Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. Estimated average hospital childbirth facility costs per maternity stay ranged from $1,189 to $11,986, with a median of $4,215. The figures did not include professional fees for obstetricians, midwives or anesthesiologists, who generally bill separately for their services.
Read more:
- How Much Does It Cost To Have A Baby? Hospital Study Finds Huge Price Range. Kaiser Health News
- Full study: Wide Variation Found In Hospital Facility Costs For Maternity Stays Involving Low-Risk Childbirth. Health Affairs, July 2015