Hospitals charging fees for facility use

Ohio State University's Wexner Medical Center collects about $17 million each year in facility fees from payers and patients.These fees allow hospitals that own physician practices and outpatient clinics that meet certain federal requirements to bill separately for the facility, in addition to the physician services. Data on 370,000 patient encounters showed an average of about $46 per encounter. These fees that have been allowed by Medicare are becoming more common as hospitals employ more physicians and perform more outpatient procedures.