Teaching Hospitals Are Expensive Places to Get Healthcare Services

From the New York Times:

Perhaps not evident to many patients, there are two kinds of hospitals — teaching and nonteaching — and a raging debate about which is better. Teaching hospitals, affiliated with medical schools, are the training grounds for the next generation of physicians. They cost more. The debate is over whether their increased cost is accompanied by better patient outcomes.

Teaching hospitals cost taxpayers more in part because Medicare pays them more, to compensate them for their educational mission. They also tend to command higher prices in the commercial market because the medical-school affiliation enhances their brand. Their higher prices could even cost patients more, if they are paying out of pocket.

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/06/05/upshot/teaching-hospitals-cost-more-but-could-save-your-life.html

From the Boston Globe: Academic medical centers drive up costs in the health care marketplace