CMS has issued guidance for certain physicians who provide services in the outpatient departments of critical access hospitals about how they can participate in the Medicare Electronic Health Record Incentive Program beginning this year, according to an AHA News Now report.  

Spinal fusions are a major procedure for patients and hospitals, and the amount charged for the procedure varies between $19,000 and more than $470,000.

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Last week, CMS released a trove of hospital inpatient billing data in an effort to increase price transparency. The data, which come from fiscal year 2011, detail charges and payments for the top 100 most frequently billed inpatient discharges for the 3,000-plus hospitals that are paid under Medicare's inpatient prospective payment system.

Here are the 10 hospitals that recorded the highest charges for spinal fusions in FY 2011. Note: Data come directly from CMS' database of hospital charges and reflects only hospitals paid under Medicare's IPPS. Data specifically reflects MS-DRG 460, spinal fusion except cervical, without major complications and comorbidities.

1.    Lourdes Medical Center of Burlington County (Willingboro, N.J.): $471,121
2.    Pottstown (Pa.) Memorial Medical Center: $323,318
3.    North Hills Hospital (North Richland Hills, Texas): $306,773
4.    Northridge (Calif.) Hospital Medical Center: $304,564
5.    Washington Hospital (Fremont, Calif.): $296,766
6.    Vista Medical Center East (Waukegan, Ill.): $284,148
7.    Presbyterian Intercommunity Hospital (Whittier, Ga.): $282,889
8.    Santa Rosa (Calif.) Memorial Hospital: $280,517
9.    CJW Medical Center (Richmond, Va.): $279,767
10.    University of California Davis Medical Center (Sacramento): $269,846

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