Billing Assistance

As of February 1, 2019, we are putting a halt to balance billing until a plan to improve long-term billing practice is implemented. You may read about our commitment here.

For informational purposes only, a link to the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) Open Payments web page is provided on this notice. The federal Physician Payments Sunshine Act requires that detailed information about payment and other payments of value worth over ten dollars ($10) from manufacturers of drugs, medical devices, and biologics to physicians and teaching hospitals be made available to the public.

List of Billable Items

The Charge Description Master (CDM), or Chargemaster, is a listing of items that could be billed to a patient, payer, or health care provider. The most current Chargemaster can be found on the State of California Department of HealthCare Access and Information (HCAI) website.

Price Transparency

Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), through its Price Transparency Rule, requires that hospitals make public standard charges. In compliance with the rule, we are making available the following:

A price estimator tool with shoppable services that allows consumers to estimate the amount they will be obligated to pay when receiving shoppable services.
A Machine-Readable File with gross charges, discounted cash prices, payer-specific negotiated charges, and de-identified minimum and maximum negotiated charges.

Shoppable Services

The prices for services are based on typical visits, and not intended to be representative of the services that may be required for every visit. The actual price a patient is responsible for may be higher or lower based on the actual services provided and a patient may receive separate estimates for professional services from SFGH Medical Group.

Machine-Readable File of Standard Charges

This is a machine-readable file that contains a hospital’s gross charges and payer-specific negotiated charges, plus discounted cash prices, the de-identified minimum negotiated charge, and the de-identified maximum negotiated charge for all items and services provided by the hospital.

Call 628-206-8448 for more information.

Payer’s Bill of Rights

The State of California established the Payer’s Bill of Rights which requires that each hospital:

• Make a copy of its CDM (Chargemaster) available on its website.
• Have available by request a list of the 20 most common procedures or services and five room and bed rates.

In compliance with California law, the Zuckerberg San Francisco General chargemaster is available above.