Few hospitals quote price of new hip

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ST. LOUIS, Feb. 11 (UPI) -- The price of hip replacement surgery varies wildly and is hard to obtain, a study on pricing in U.S. hospitals found.

Hip replacements could be had for $11,100 to $125,798, a study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association for Internal Medicine found.

The study authored by Washington University student Jaime Rosenthal found only 16 percent of hospitals called would provide a bundled price for a hip replacement. Forty-seven percent offered a total price, but only if hospitals and other medical services were contracted individually, the study said.

The Los Angeles Times reported Monday the study was done by calling two hospitals in every state plus the top 20-ranked orthopedic hospitals, for a total of 122 hospitals contacted.

The hospitals were then asked for the price of a hip replacement for an elderly woman with no insurance but the means to pay for the surgery out of pocket.

Rosenthal's study lists Xin Lu and Peter Cram of the University of Iowa's Carver College of Medicine as co-authors.