Anatomy of a Hospital Bill for Major Surgery Performed in the U.S.

A friend recently asked me to review her $100,000 hospital bill that she received following hip replacement surgery that was completed last December at a clinic in the United States. I was shocked and flabbergasted after I took time to investigate every pharmaceutical drug and medical substance that she was given — before, during, and after surgery.

To honor and protect my friend’s privacy, I will simply refer to her in this report and all subsequent discussions as B.

B is a very health-conscious individual who takes proper care of her body by eating right and exercising regularly. She suffered a hip fracture while attending a social function in late December. She was admitted to a local hospital on Dec 27, had surgery on Dec 29, and was discharged the next day.

The source document that B sent to me was a three-page billing statement from the hospital that admitted her for treatment. While three service providers who were subcontracted to assist during the medical procedure also submitted separate billings, I did not include them in my analysis because their invoices lacked sufficient detail as to what pharmaceuticals that they administered and their cumulative billing total was much lower than the hospital’s.