Two Worcester hospitals have wide gap in costs

Two Worcester hospitals located less than three miles apart charge markedly different amounts for the same services, a story in the Sunday Telegram reports, reflecting a split between academic and community hospital prices and the different rates the state's largest insurer pays.

An analysis that compared hospital charges for treating ailments from heart failure to pneumonia at the UMass Memorial Medical Center -- University Campus and St. Vincent Hospital found gaps of 50 percent or more between the two hospitals. UMass Memorial has other hospitals throughout Central Massachusetts, but its 300-bed flagship was used in the comparison with similarly sized St. Vincent. Quality was comparable, according to state and federal data.

The different rates paid by Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts show a pattern like the one revealed in a Boston Globe Spotlight series on the relationship between Blue Cross and Partners HealthCare, parent company of Massachusetts General Hospital and Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston.

Dr. Walter H. Ettinger Jr., president of UMass Memorial Medical Center, said educating University of Massachusetts Medical School students and delivering specialized care, such as treatment provided in the hospital's Level 1 trauma center or its neonatal intensive care unit, account for the higher prices for all patients.

"Those costs are all included in the rates that we get,” Ettinger told the Telegram. "Teaching doctors is expensive. Some of these specialties lose money. One thing that the country and the commonwealth are going to have to deal with is, these are real costs."