Breathing treatment (nebulizer) cost in IL
What a breathing treatment (nebulizer) costs at IL hospitals — and the fair price to aim for.
Typical commercial prices here are +15% above the fair benchmark (1.15×) even 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
Fayette County Hospital prices routine shoppable procedures near 0.8× Medicare (p50 0.86×) while skewing captive emergency, lab, and upper-quartile codes to 1.5× Medicare (p75 1.57×, +83% 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 0.37× the peer BaseRate benchmark
- Self-pay cash beats commercial insurance on 19% of shoppable procedures (25/100 Cash Honesty)
- CMS clinical safety score (69/100 safety score) with 78% patient recommendation
- IRS 501(c)(3) charity care provides free care up to 200% FPL and discounted care up to 400% FPL (34.5% AGB cap)
Where You Can Get Burned (Markup Traps)
- Even at low-cost facilities (1.15× 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 (0.6×) & laboratory (1.6×) services average 1.88× higher multiples than routine shoppable care (0.8×)
- Upper-quartile procedures (Q75 1.57×) jump +83% above the median procedure ratio (Q50 0.86×)
- Unnegotiated chargemaster list prices average 10.9× Medicare (16¢ 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, IL hospitals charge above the fair price — worth shopping around here. how we calculate the BaseRate →
Compared with the rest of the country, IL’s fair BaseRate ($186) is about the same as the national fair price of $166.
Cheapest IL hospitals for a breathing treatment (nebulizer)
- Fayette County Hospital · Vandalia $22
- Blessing Hospital · Quincy $23
- UW Health · Rockford $27
- John H Stroger Jr Hospital · Chicago $29
- Community Hospital of Staunton · Staunton $31
- Trinity Rock Island · Rock Island $48
- Crawford Memorial Hospital · Robinson $50
- Marshall Browning Hospital · Du Quoin $53
- Sarah Bush Lincoln Health Center · Mattoon $53
- Morrison Community Hospital · Morrison $55
- Northshore University Healthsystem - Evanston Hospital · Evanston $58
- Community First Medical Center · Chicago $72
- St Francis Hospital · Litchfield $79
- Mt Sinai Hospital Medical Center · Chicago $84
- Jacksonville Memorial Hospital · Jacksonville $86
Audit a Bill or Quote at IL Hospital Benchmark (Zero PHI Required)
Statutory 501(r) AGB Cap Limits Bill to $201
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 = $201).
Compare Prompt-Pay Cash Rate Against Remaining Deductible
Ask IL 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 $186 Fair BaseRate ($108 Medicare)
Your bill ($554) is $368 above the denoised Fair BaseRate ($186) and 5.1× the $108 Medicare rate.