Neurobehavioral status check cost in SC
What a neurobehavioral status check costs at SC hospitals — and the fair price to aim for.
Typical commercial prices here are +68% above the fair benchmark (1.68×) 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
Conway Medical Center prices routine shoppable procedures near 0.6× Medicare (p50 0.83×) while skewing captive emergency, lab, and upper-quartile codes to 1.0× Medicare (p75 0.95×, +14% 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 20% below peer Fair BaseRate (0.80×)
- Self-pay cash beats commercial insurance on 14% of shoppable procedures (25/100 Cash Honesty)
- 2-Star CMS clinical rating with 68% patient recommendation (68/100 safety score)
- IRS 501(c)(3) charity care provides free care up to 200% FPL and discounted care up to 400% FPL (26.6% AGB cap)
Where You Can Get Burned (Markup Traps)
- Even at low-cost facilities (1.68× 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 (1.1×) services average 1.67× higher multiples than routine shoppable care (0.6×)
- Even at low-cost facilities (1.68× 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.
- Consolidated metro market (HHI 3,661) 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, SC hospitals charge above the fair price — worth shopping around here. how we calculate the BaseRate →
Compared with the rest of the country, SC’s fair BaseRate ($283) is above the national fair price of $228.
Cheapest SC hospitals for a neurobehavioral status check
- Conway Medical Center · Conway $86
- Cannon Memorial Hospital · Pickens $92
- Anmed Health · Anderson $106
- East Cooper Medical Center · Mount Pleasant $209
- Coastal Carolina Hospital · Hardeeville $211
- Novant Health Hilton Head Medical Center · Hilton Head Island $211
- Kershawhealth · Camden $270
- MUSC Medical Center · Charleston $275
- Beaufort County Memorial Hospital · Beaufort $286
- MUSC Health Black River Medical Center · Cades $337
- MUSC Health Columbia Medical Center Downtown · Columbia $357
- Union Medical Center · Union $371
- Carolina Pines Regional Medical Center · Hartsville $406
- Lexington Medical Center · West Columbia $427
- MUSC Health Florence Medical Center · Florence $478
Audit a Bill or Quote at SC Hospital Benchmark (Zero PHI Required)
Statutory 501(r) AGB Cap Limits Bill to $338
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 = $338).
Compare Prompt-Pay Cash Rate Against Remaining Deductible
Ask SC 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 $283 Fair BaseRate ($164 Medicare)
Your bill ($931) is $648 above the denoised Fair BaseRate ($283) and 5.7× the $164 Medicare rate.