X-ray, hip cost in HI
What a x-ray, hip costs at HI hospitals — and the fair price to aim for.
Typical commercial prices here are 10% below the fair benchmark (0.90×) 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
Samuel Mahelona Memorial Hospital prices routine shoppable procedures near 0.6× Medicare (p50 0.70×) while skewing captive emergency, lab, and upper-quartile codes to 1.5× Medicare (p75 1.27×, +81% 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 15% below peer Fair BaseRate (0.85×)
- Self-pay cash beats commercial insurance on 55% of shoppable procedures (99/100 Cash Honesty)
- CMS clinical safety score (85/100 safety score) with 72% patient recommendation
- Binding Good Faith Estimate rights under 45 CFR § 149.610 protect self-pay patients before scheduling
Where You Can Get Burned (Markup Traps)
- Even at low-cost facilities (0.90× 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 (0.9×) & laboratory (2.1×) services average 2.50× higher multiples than routine shoppable care (0.6×)
- Upper-quartile procedures (Q75 1.27×) jump +81% above the median procedure ratio (Q50 0.70×)
- Consolidated metro market (HHI 6,208) 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 ($83) is about the same as the national fair price of $96.
Cheapest HI hospitals for a x-ray, hip
- Samuel Mahelona Memorial Hospital · Kapaa $30
- Kau Hospital · Pahala $43
- Hilo Benioff Medical Center · Hilo $52
- Lanai Community Hospital · Lanai City $57
- Kula Hospital · Kula $57
- Kohala Hospital · Kapaau $59
- Molokai General Hospital · Kaunakakai $59
- Rehabilitation Hospital of the Pacific · Honolulu $60
- Shriners Hospital for Children · Honolulu $74
- The Queens Medical Center · Honolulu $84
- Straub Clinic and Hospital · Honolulu $86
- Kuakini Medical Center · Honolulu $89
- Pali Momi Medical Center · Aiea $90
- Kapiolani Medical Center for Women & Children · Honolulu $90
- Wilcox Memorial Hospital · Lihue $101
Audit a Bill or Quote at HI Hospital Benchmark (Zero PHI Required)
Statutory 501(r) AGB Cap Limits Bill to $73
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 = $73).
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 $83 Fair BaseRate ($48 Medicare)
Your bill ($202) is $119 above the denoised Fair BaseRate ($83) and 4.2× the $48 Medicare rate.