Office visit, established patient (20-29 min) cost in WA
What a office visit, established patient (20-29 min) costs at WA hospitals — and the fair price to aim for.
Typical commercial prices here are 13% below the fair benchmark (0.87×) after accounting for local nurse/doctor wages and patient complexity.
Balances commercial hospital prices against CMS clinical safety, infection control, and patient experience.
Wide Procedure Spread · Upper-Quartile Skew Pricer
This hospital prices routine shoppable procedures at 1.9× Medicare (median 1.52× Fair BaseRate) while upper-quartile commercial rates jump +32% to 2.01× Fair BaseRate. Self-pay cash discounts and comparing specific CPT procedure codes before scheduling yield the strongest savings.
Where They're Good (Patient & Payer Edge)
- Bottom-quartile procedures (Q25) price at 0.98× the peer BaseRate benchmark
- Self-pay cash beats commercial insurance on 36% of shoppable procedures (99/100 Cash Honesty)
- 2-Star CMS clinical rating with 67% patient recommendation (62/100 safety score)
- IRS 501(c)(3) charity care provides free care up to 200% FPL and discounted care up to 400% FPL (25.2% AGB cap)
Where You Can Get Burned (Markup Traps)
- Even at low-cost facilities (0.87× 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.
- Commercial insurance median sits at 1.52× Fair BaseRate (1.9× Medicare), so insured patients should always compare the self-pay cash price before paying.
- Upper-quartile procedures (Q75 2.01×) jump +32% above the median procedure ratio (Q50 1.52×)
- Unnegotiated chargemaster list prices average 6.9× 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, WA hospitals charge below the fair price — a good state to get this done. how we calculate the BaseRate →
Compared with the rest of the country, WA’s fair BaseRate ($96) is about the same as the national fair price of $87.
Cheapest WA hospitals for a office visit, established patient (20-29 min)
- Tacoma General Allenmore Hospital · Tacoma $45
- Mary Bridge Children's Hospital · Tacoma $45
- Multicare Good Samaritan Hospital · Puyallup $45
- Multicare Auburn Medical Center · Auburn $45
- Multicare Covington Medical Center · Covington $45
- Arbor Health Morton Hospital · Morton $48
- Lincoln Hospital · Davenport $51
- Shriners Hospital for Children · Spokane $58
- Peacehealth St John Medical Center · Longview $61
- St Joseph Hospital · Bellingham $61
- Lake Chelan Community Hospital · Chelan $62
- Newport Community Hospital · Newport $66
- Forks Community Hospital · Forks $67
- Trios Health · Kennewick $68
- Valley Medical Center · Renton $69
Audit a Bill or Quote at WA Hospital Benchmark (Zero PHI Required)
Statutory 501(r) AGB Cap Limits Bill to $66
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 = $66).
Compare Prompt-Pay Cash Rate Against Remaining Deductible
Ask WA 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 $96 Fair BaseRate ($56 Medicare)
Your bill ($182) is $86 above the denoised Fair BaseRate ($96) and 3.3× the $56 Medicare rate.