If you consider yourself a savvy consumer, you might want to start shopping around for your next medical procedure.
For the first time some eye opening figures are coming out, showing how wildly different costs for procedures can vary from state to state and hospital to hospital.
The Department of Health and Human Services is releasing thousands of hospital charges for 100 common Medicare services.
And there are major price tag differences.
Joint replacement prices range from about $5,000 at an Ada, Okla. hospital to about $220,000 in Monterey Park, Calif.
And it's not just geography - hospitals within the same cities also vary widely.
In Jackson, Mississippi average inpatient charges for services to treat heart failure range from $9,000 to $51,000.
The hope is releasing the information may put pressure on hospitals to lower charges that are out of line.
