SBHHD Lowering Fees In Response to Complaints

The South Big Horn County Hospital District is lowering their emergency room and physician care fees.

Community members have approached the interim CEO of the South Big Horn County Hospital District, Vince DiFranco, with concerns that the cost of emergency room and physician care in the district appeared to be higher than others in the area. The Greybull Standard reports that the board approved a cost comparison report with five neighboring emergency rooms and found that they were correct.

The new Hospital Price Transparency Rule that went into effect nationwide on January 1st of this year requires hospitals to make the prices of services and tests available on the Internet for the prospective patients to view. According to the newspaper, DiFranco discovered that a significant increase in the cost of services occurred in 2017, and South Big Horn charged the highest fees of all five hospitals he reviewed for emergency room services.

Based on the feedback from the community over the last 10 months, the rates from area emergency rooms, and Medicare and Medicaid reimbursement limits, the board has lowered the price for both ER and ER physician costs significantly for all levels of care.

The new rates were implemented on February 1st.