Behavioral health living support cost in GA
What a behavioral health living support costs at GA hospitals — and the fair price to aim for.
Typical commercial prices here are 6% below the fair benchmark (0.94×) after accounting for local nurse/doctor wages and patient complexity.
Balances commercial hospital prices against CMS clinical safety, infection control, and patient experience.
Loss-Leader / Captive Ancillary Cross-Subsidizer
Atrium Health Navicent Rehabilitation Hopsital prices routine shoppable procedures near 0.8× Medicare (p50 0.86×) while skewing captive emergency, lab, and upper-quartile codes to 1.3× Medicare (p75 1.11×, +29% upper-tail jump). Patients scheduling elective outpatient care can capture competitive rates, but emergency and ancillary bills require strict line-item auditing.
Where They're Good (Patient & Payer Edge)
- Elective shoppable care is priced 10% below peer Fair BaseRate (0.90×)
- Self-pay cash beats commercial insurance on 52% of shoppable procedures (99/100 Cash Honesty)
- CMS clinical safety score (54/100 safety score) with 72% patient recommendation
- IRS 501(c)(3) charity care provides free care up to 200% FPL and discounted care up to 400% FPL (28.2% AGB cap)
Where You Can Get Burned (Markup Traps)
- Even at low-cost facilities (0.94× Fair BaseRate), out-of-network or unnegotiated chargemaster bills can exceed commercial medians — confirm in-network status or request a self-pay cash quote up front.
- Captive ER (1.2×) & laboratory (2.6×) services average 1.63× higher multiples than routine shoppable care (0.8×)
- Upper-quartile procedures (Q75 1.11×) jump +29% above the median procedure ratio (Q50 0.86×)
- Unnegotiated chargemaster list prices average 10.8× Medicare (14¢ true HCRIS cost per $1 gross)
Pre-scheduled outpatient procedures where patients can comparison-shop.
Emergency, inpatient DRG, lab, and specialty drug lines billed after admission.
Detects median-gaming when upper-quartile codes spike above the p50 median.
In general, GA hospitals charge about the fair price for this. how we calculate the BaseRate →
Compared with the rest of the country, GA’s fair BaseRate ($28) is below the national fair price of $33.
Cheapest GA hospitals for a behavioral health living support
- Atrium Health Navicent Rehabilitation Hopsital · Macon $24
- Atrium Health Navicent the Medical Center · Macon $24
- Atrium Health Navicent Peach · Byron $24
- Navicent Health Baldwin · Milledgeville $24
- Memorial Satilla Health · Waycross $32
- Savannah Health Services LLC DBA Memorial Health University Medical Center · Savannah $32
- Doctors Hospital · Augusta $37
- Fairview Park Hospital · Dublin $37
- Shepherd Center, Inc. · Atlanta $73
Audit a Bill or Quote at GA Hospital Benchmark (Zero PHI Required)
Statutory 501(r) AGB Cap Limits Bill to $28
At 274% FPL (201%–400% FPL tier), 26 U.S.C. § 501(r)(5) caps FAP-eligible bills at Amounts Generally Billed (36.3% of gross = $28).
Compare Prompt-Pay Cash Rate Against Remaining Deductible
Ask GA Hospital Benchmark's billing desk for their written 45 CFR § 180 discounted self-pay cash price and Good Faith Estimate under the No Surprises Act.
Negotiate Toward $28 Fair BaseRate ($16 Medicare)
Your bill ($77) is $49 above the denoised Fair BaseRate ($28) and 4.8× the $16 Medicare rate.