A chargemaster is a list of all procedures, products, and services offered in a hospital. This important document has everything from prescription medications to diagnostic tests on it, along with the associated price. This method of tracking costs has been in use for many years. It has become crucial since the era of insurance, balance billing, and other healthcare payment practices. Originally, it was like a dictionary that contained all the fee-for-service prices. Now it has been adapted to include things such as value-based care. However, they remain a crucial part of modern hospitals. Today, they are found as large electronic files that can be consulted by the revenue department.
How Hospitals Create and Use Chargemasters
Chargemasters today do not reflect the actual cost of a service or product. This is because they are created by finance departments focusing on bringing in revenue despite hindrances, such as negotiated insurance …