Your Cost
Price Transparency
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) implemented a new Hospital Price Transparency rule on January 1, 2021 which requires each hospital to make public their charges for services including 13 Radiology procedures such as MRI. The cost differential between hospital and outpatient imaging is staggering as leading governmental agencies have recognized the importance of concepts such
as Informed Choice (proactively notifying patients of less expensive facilities to have the same procedure done). As MRI of Reston continues our ongoing patient commitment of keeping costs at a minimum, we also believe in the education aspect so our patients are updated on current events regarding costs. Here is a link to the latest on the CMS Hospital Price Transparency rule.
We have also provided a comparison of our patient charges to the average hospital owned facility in Northern Virginia for the most common insurance carriers. Your out of pocket expense is based on these contracted fees.
Due to changes in healthcare laws, there is a greater variation in radiology sites’ charges.
A facility’s fees are based on the contracted reimbursements which have been established with insurance carriers. Healthcare procedures are reimbursed differently depending upon whether or not a facility is owned by a hospital. Hospital owned sites must submit two separate charges: one for the exam and one for the doctor’s interpretation. Because MRI of Reston is physician owned and managed, we only submit one charge to the insurance. The result is a marked difference in out of pocket expenses for patients with insurance deductibles. There is also a disparity between hospital owned sites and MRI of Reston.