Study: Outpatients in States With Limiting Fee Schedules Pay Less for Hospital Care​

States with fee schedules setting payments for outpatient hospital services see smaller bills than states that don't have fee schedules at all, according to study by the Workers Compensation Research Institute. Hospital outpatient payments are at least 50% higher in states without fixed-amount fee schedules, and payments are growing faster in states with percent-of-charge-based fee schedules or no fee schedules, according to the study. The study, “Hospital Outpatient Payment Index: Interstate Variations and Policy Analysis,” compared hospital payments for common outpatien...