See What Buffalo Grove-Area Hospitals Billed Medicare for Common Procedures

When a patient arrives at Northwest Community Hospital in Arlington Heights needing major joint replacement, the hospital bills Medicare $49,182, while at nearby Advocate Condell Hospital in Libertyville, they bill Medicare $64,236 for the same treatment, according to a massive federal database of national health care costs the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services made public Wednesday. 

On average, Northwest Community Hospital bills Medicare less than the U.S. average, while Advocate Condell Hospital bills one to two times more than the U.S. average for treatments, according to a database compiled by New York Times, which is searchable by ZIP code or state. Data for Highland Park and Glenbrook Hospitals were not available. 

For the first time people can see in detail how much the vast majority of American hospitals charged for the top 100 most common procedures billed to Medicare. The database covers claims filed within fiscal year 2011 and includes 163,065 individual charges recorded at 3,337 hospitals in 306 metropolitan areas, Huffington Post reported. 

Illinois hospitals on average charged about the same as the national average for procedures such as major lower joint replacement, pneumonia, breathing problem with ventilator, chest pain and heart failure, according to the database compiled by Washington Post, which is searchable by state. 

The University of Chicago Medical Center and Gottlieb Memorial Hospital had some of the highest prices for treatments among Chicago-area hospitals in 2011, according to Crain’s Chicago Business.