What is Affordability?

Affordability means how much it costs for care in the hospital. We adjust the average cost for a hospital inpatient stay and outpatient services. This lets us compare hospitals doing different things. Some hospitals do harder procedures or treat sicker people. Other hospitals do easier procedures or treat patients who aren't as sick. We include the cost for all hospital services during a stay, not just the room and board, but also services provided in the outpatient setting.

Because we use only our claims data, a hospital's BlueCompare Affordability symbol may not reflect the performance for all patients.

BlueCompare for Hospitals is not meant to tell you which hospital you should select. This is a very personal choice. You should not decide what hospital to go to just based on BlueCompare information.

For hospitals in BlueCompare, Affordability symbols mean:

	The cost of inpatient and outpatient care provided by this general acute care hospital is more affordable compared to peers.
	The cost of inpatient and outpatient care provided by this general acute care hospital is somewhat more affordable compared to peers.
	The cost of inpatient and outpatient care provided by this general acute care hospital is about average compared to peers.
	The cost of inpatient and outpatient care provided by this general acute care hospital is somewhat less affordable compared to peers.
	The cost of inpatient and outpatient care provided by this general acute care hospital is less affordable compared to peers.
	There is not enough data available to measure affordability. Re-evaluations are conducted periodically.

Why do some hospitals not have a BlueCompare Affordability symbol?

We measure only general acute care hospitals. You will not see a BlueCompare Affordability symbol for specialty hospitals like children's, mental health, or rehabilitation facilities. Here is a list of hospital types we do not review:

Behavioral Health Facility	Pediatric Hospital	Residential Treatment Center
Cancer Center	Psychiatric Hospital	Subacute Care Hospital
Partial Day Psychiatric	Rehabilitation Facility	Substance Abuse Facility

Additionally, we do not display an Affordability symbol for general acute care hospitals that are new to the network.