Residential mental health treatment cost in TX
What a residential mental health treatment costs at TX hospitals — and the fair price to aim for.
Typical commercial prices here match the fair market benchmark (1.00×) after accounting for local nurse/doctor wages and patient complexity.
Balances commercial hospital prices against CMS clinical safety, infection control, and patient experience.
Uniform Value Leader
Palms Behavioral Health maintains disciplined commercial pricing across both elective shoppable care (1.9× Medicare) and captive emergency/ancillary departments (1.9× Medicare). Patients and health plans benefit from predictable, below-benchmark rates (0.91× Fair BaseRate) without hidden ancillary cross-subsidization.
Where They're Good (Patient & Payer Edge)
- Elective shoppable care is priced 9% below peer Fair BaseRate (0.91×)
- Self-pay cash beats commercial insurance on 61% of shoppable procedures (99/100 Cash Honesty)
- CMS clinical safety score (54/100 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)
- Outpatient surgery & OR suites carry a 2.4× markup over Medicare rates
- Commercial insurance median sits at 0.95× Fair BaseRate (1.9× Medicare), so insured patients should always compare the self-pay cash price before paying.
- Specialty infusion drugs (J-codes) average 2.2× Medicare — verify per-unit billing on itemized statements
- Consolidated metro market (HHI 2,509) 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, TX hospitals charge above the fair price — worth shopping around here. how we calculate the BaseRate →
Compared with the rest of the country, TX’s fair BaseRate ($350) is about the same as the national fair price of $339.
Cheapest TX hospitals for a residential mental health treatment
- Palms Behavioral Health · Harlingen $385
- PAM Specialty Hospital of Texarkana North · Texarkana $406
- PAM Specialty Hospital of San Antonio Medical Center · San Antonio $406
- Christus Santa Rosa Medical Center · San Antonio $406
- Covenant Medical Center · Lubbock $597
- UT of Texas Southwestern University Hospital - William P. Clements Jr. · Dallas $1,153
Audit a Bill or Quote at TX Hospital Benchmark (Zero PHI Required)
Statutory 501(r) AGB Cap Limits Bill to $354
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 = $354).
Compare Prompt-Pay Cash Rate Against Remaining Deductible
Ask TX 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 $350 Fair BaseRate ($203 Medicare)
Your bill ($974) is $624 above the denoised Fair BaseRate ($350) and 4.8× the $203 Medicare rate.