The state's Department of Health has released hospital charges and costs for more than 1,400 medical conditions, revealing extraordinary discrepancies between hospitals across the state. The release is part of state health commissioner Nirav Shah's pledge to provide greater transparency in health care costs, and an effort to begin a conversation over how hospitals arrive at their charges. The hope, Shah said, is that consumers, insurers and employers call for more clarity and logic in a system lacking in both. As an example, the data revealed when a woman arrives at Lutheran Medical Center in Brooklyn in need of a Caesarean section, she can expect an official charge of $8,000.
