RT Journal
A1 Weeks WB
T1 OF appendectomies, markets, and fictional charges
JF Archives of Internal Medicine
JO Archives of Internal Medicine
YR 2012
FD October 22
VO 172
IS 19
SP 1524
OP 1525
DO 10.1001/archinternmed.2012.4412
UL http://dx.doi.org/10.1001/archinternmed.2012.4412
AB 
First, total charges are a product of the number of services used and the charge per service. The article showed that older and sicker patients had higher charges, probably because they required more services while they were hospitalized (for instance, the patient with the highest bill apparently also had cancer). But some variation was undoubtedly because different hospitals have different charges for the same service. Hospitals set charges to cover anticipated costs based on their payer mix: they understand that government payers pay less, private payers pay more, private payers use charges to negotiate discounted payments, and all patients are charged the same for the same service. Similarly, different stores might charge different prices for an apple.