Boston Children's zeroes in on its costs

Tagged by the attorney general and insurers as one of the state's most expensive hospitals, Children's Hospital Boston is moving aggressively to cut healthcare costs while seeking to sustain its elite reputation for pediatric care. Children's has reduced its fees to private insurers and to Medicaid-managed care programs by $90 million over the last year and a half, hospital executives said, by focusing on charges for lab tests, doctors' appointments, imaging, surgery, and hospital admissions. Children's also recently slashed imaging and outpatient surgery prices by 20% at the hospital's three suburban sites. Hospital president Sandra Fenwick said Children's is responding to pressure to reduce costs "coming from everywhere" ---government, insurers, employers, and patients.