Blood test, vitamin B12 cost in ID
What a blood test, vitamin b12 costs at ID 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
Saint Alphonsus Regional Medical Center prices routine shoppable procedures near 1.4× Medicare (p50 1.38×) while skewing captive emergency, lab, and upper-quartile codes to 2.1× Medicare (p75 1.91×, +38% 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 0.64× the peer BaseRate benchmark
- Self-pay cash beats commercial insurance on 43% of shoppable procedures (71/100 Cash Honesty)
- CMS clinical safety score (68/100 safety score) with 77% patient recommendation
- IRS 501(c)(3) charity care provides free care up to 200% FPL and discounted care up to 400% FPL (29.1% 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 (4.1×) & laboratory (2.3×) services average 1.50× higher multiples than routine shoppable care (1.4×)
- Upper-quartile procedures (Q75 1.91×) jump +38% above the median procedure ratio (Q50 1.38×)
- Consolidated metro market (HHI 2,410) limits in-network hospital competition (Moderately Concentrated (1,500–2,500))
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, ID hospitals charge about the fair price for this. how we calculate the BaseRate →
Compared with the rest of the country, ID’s fair BaseRate ($16) is about the same as the national fair price of $17.
Cheapest ID hospitals for a blood test, vitamin b12
- Saint Alphonsus Regional Medical Center · Boise $15
- Mountain View Hospital · Idaho Falls $15
- Northwest Specialty Hospital · Post Falls $15
- Eastern Idaho Regional Medical Center · Idaho Falls $15
- Treasure Valley Hospital · Boise $15
- Madison Memorial Hospital · Rexburg $15
- West Valley Medical Center · Caldwell $15
- Idaho Falls Community Hospital, LLC · Idaho Falls $15
- St Luke's Nampa Medical Center · Nampa $15
- Kootenai Health · Coeur D'Alene $15
- Teton Valley Hospital · Driggs $17
- Lost Rivers Medical Center · Arco $17
- Nell J Redfield Memorial Hospital · Malad City $17
- Grove Creek Medical Center · Blackfoot $19
- Benewah Community Hospital · Saint Maries $20
Audit a Bill or Quote at ID Hospital Benchmark (Zero PHI Required)
Statutory 501(r) AGB Cap Limits Bill to $13
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 = $13).
Compare Prompt-Pay Cash Rate Against Remaining Deductible
Ask ID 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 $16 Fair BaseRate ($9 Medicare)
Your bill ($36) is $20 above the denoised Fair BaseRate ($16) and 4.0× the $9 Medicare rate.