Speech therapy (language evaluation) cost in HI
What a speech therapy (language evaluation) costs at HI hospitals — and the fair price to aim for.
Typical commercial prices here are 7% below the fair benchmark (0.93×) 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
Leahi Hospital prices routine shoppable procedures near 0.8× Medicare (p50 1.04×) while skewing captive emergency, lab, and upper-quartile codes to 1.4× Medicare (p75 1.37×, +32% 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)
- Bottom-quartile procedures (Q25) price at 0.82× the peer BaseRate benchmark
- Self-pay cash beats commercial insurance on 51% 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 (51.0% AGB cap)
Where You Can Get Burned (Markup Traps)
- Even at low-cost facilities (0.93× 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 (3.5×) services average 1.75× higher multiples than routine shoppable care (0.8×)
- Upper-quartile procedures (Q75 1.37×) jump +32% above the median procedure ratio (Q50 1.04×)
- Consolidated metro market (HHI 5,000) limits in-network hospital competition (Highly Concentrated Monopoly (>2,500))
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, HI hospitals charge about the fair price for this. how we calculate the BaseRate →
Compared with the rest of the country, HI’s fair BaseRate ($81) is about the same as the national fair price of $91.
Cheapest HI hospitals for a speech therapy (language evaluation)
- Leahi Hospital · Honolulu $36
- Kohala Hospital · Kapaau $40
- Lanai Community Hospital · Lanai City $50
- Kula Hospital · Kula $50
- Adventist Health Castle · Kailua $80
- The Queens Medical Center · Honolulu $80
- North Hawaii Community Hospital, Inc · Kamuela $80
- Hilo Benioff Medical Center · Hilo $81
- Kau Hospital · Pahala $81
- Kona Community Hospital · Kealakekua $81
- Straub Clinic and Hospital · Honolulu $82
- Pali Momi Medical Center · Aiea $87
- Kapiolani Medical Center for Women & Children · Honolulu $87
- Rehabilitation Hospital of the Pacific · Honolulu $89
- Kuakini Medical Center · Honolulu $98
Audit a Bill or Quote at HI Hospital Benchmark (Zero PHI Required)
Statutory 501(r) AGB Cap Limits Bill to $70
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 = $70).
Compare Prompt-Pay Cash Rate Against Remaining Deductible
Ask HI 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 $81 Fair BaseRate ($47 Medicare)
Your bill ($192) is $111 above the denoised Fair BaseRate ($81) and 4.1× the $47 Medicare rate.