Report: Worcester fourth in nation for rising medical costs
Worcester has been ranked fourth in the nation for climbing medical procedure costs, narrowly beating Boston but falling behind Springfield, according to a new report.
The report by BetterDoctor.com used procedure cost data from 2011 through 2013 that was recently released by the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid. The report found that procedure costs decreased in 32 cities, while 230 cities saw an increase, leading to an average increase of 3.1 percent in procedure costs across cities nationwide.
The five cities with the largest increase in procedure costs were:
- Canton, Ohio (+39.29%)
- Springfield, Mass. (+18.42%)
- Kettering, Ohio (+12.36%)
- Worcester, Mass. (+11.26%)
- Boston, Mass. (+10.31%)
The cities with the biggest reduction in procedure costs were:
- Casper, Wyo. (-8.28%)
- Morristown, N.J. (-4.38%)
- Lake Charles, La. (-3.72%)
- Greensboro, N.C. (-3.52%)
- Albany, Ga. (-3.39%)
The full rankings are available online. These rankings do not reflect which cities have the lowest or highest procedure costs, just those with the largest changes in cost. BetterDoctor was founded in 2011 with the goal of increasing transparency in healthcare and empowering consumers to find and evaluate doctors, according to a company statement.
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