Selected by rule from this quarter’s files, not written by an editor.
Each one links straight into the explorer with the filters already set.
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Widest spread in the state
The same ed visit, level 5 runs $541 to $9,076 in Colorado
$541 Weisbrod Memorial County Hospitalmedian $2,997$9,076 CommonSpirit Penrose St Francis Health Services
17× between the cheapest and the dearest of the 58 hospitals with at least 5 published plan rates for it; the explorer also shows thinner cells, so its range can run wider.
Biggest gap between two insurers, same hospital
At Sky Ridge Medical Center, Cigna pays 12.6× what Anthem BCBS pays for the same x-ray, lower back, 4+ views
Anthem BCBS$215
Cigna$2,700
Same building, same procedure, same code. The difference is which card is in your wallet.
Furthest above the Medicare benchmark
Arkansas Valley Regional Medical Center is paid 6.6× the Medicare rate across everything it prices
100%Medicare
303%state median
660%this hospital
Medicare’s payment is hospital-specific and roughly pegged to the cost of care. The median across this hospital’s 28 procedures is 660% of it, against a Colorado median of 303%.
Highest price over estimated cost
HCA HealthONE hospitals are paid 7.1× what it is estimated to cost them to deliver care
HCA HealthONE7.1×
Intermountain3.6×
UCHealth3.2×
CommonSpirit3.1×
Cost estimated from each hospital’s own federal cost report (HCRIS) — the same filings state regulators use. Estimates, not accounting truth.
Findings are chosen by rule, not by hand. To be eligible a cell needs at least 5 published plan rates and a commercial rate between 80% and 1500% of Medicare, so partial or component-level pricing in a hospital’s file cannot produce a headline. Every figure is on the page it links to.
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