[pc86]

Honestly I'd be shocked if an ER doctor knew the price of a service before doing. They probably know a general range (give or take a few hundred dollars?) for a given test, but even that I'm mostly guessing on.

Unless they're a small operation, I don't know that they'd have any direct visibility into the billing/insurance/finance side of the operation. Maybe that is the issue? I don't know how to combat that in a large hospital setting.

The one time I had surgery I ended up getting 3 separate bills for varying amounts, but any time I asked for documentation about a given procedure or test it was provided in writing well before the due date of the bill.

[fargolime]

I once asked the financial adviser for a hospital, how much the CAT scan will be. He said $1700. On the bill it was $4500. Here's how it really works, according to a relative of mine who works in the billing dept. of a major hospital: each month they decide how much to charge patients for services already rendered, so they can meet their monetary goals for that month.