Help Paying Your Bill

The Charge Description Master (CDM), or chargemaster, is a comprehensive listing of items that could be billed to a patient, payer or healthcare provider. Hospital chargemasters are lengthy and complex documents.

“The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) established guidance which requires hospitals to make available a list of their standard charges online. Hospitals utilize a Chargemaster system, which is a list of charges for each service that might be provided to a patient. The Chargemaster rates are updated from time to time to accurately reflect the hospital’s expenses to operate. These charges are the baseline rates for services provided at our facilities that will appear on itemized statements.

Standard charges shown in the Chargemaster do not necessarily reflect the amount that a patient will pay for the services rendered. Government insurance plans such as Medicare and Medicaid (California MediCAL) do not pay the Chargemaster rates, but rather have their own set rates which hospitals are obligated to accept. Commercial insurance payments are based on rates agreed to by both the insurance carrier and the hospital and governed by the subscriber’s coverage. Patients without commercial insurance or not covered by a government health care plan may qualify for discounts through Prompt Payment agreements or by qualifying for Charity Assistance.