Pricey hip, knee surgery no guarantee of better results

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You often don't get what you pay for—at least when it comes to hip- or knee-replacement surgeries.

A new study of 2,750 hospitals across the U.S. found a staggering disparity between what the hospitals officially charge for hip- and knee-replacement surgeries before any insurance adjustments.

One low-volume hospital in California officially charges a whopping $223,373 for such surgeries, while a high-volume hospital in Akron charges just $15,465, according to a survey by the NerdWallet Health cost-comparison Web site.

And hospitals that performed more than 200 of those surgeries annually tended to have lower rates of patients readmitted for complications such as infections than hospitals that did fewer procedures, the survey found.

Those high-volume hospitals also tend to charge less for those surgeries than hospitals that did 25 or fewer per year.

Despite that, hospitals that do less than 25 of those surgeries per year officially charge 14 percent more than that ones that do 200 or more such procedures, the survey found.

And those low-volume hospitals are compensated by Medicare for those surgeries at a rate that is 9 percent higher than what Medicare pays the high-volume hospitals.

"The price doesn't really tell you a whole lot about the quality you're going to receive," said Christina LaMontagne, author of the NerdWallet Health report.

(Learn More: NerdWallet Health's Hospital Quality and Cost Comparison Tool)

She said that "if I were looking into surgery for my mom or dad, I would want them to go to a place that has a very high value," instead of relying on ones with a high-price tag.

And, she noted, "If you visit hospitals that perform more than 200 of these surgeries (annually) you are at less risk of serious infections, heart problems and complications like blood clots, pneumonia and death" following hip- and knee-replacement surgery. Just one in four hospitals perform that volume of surgeries.

Ceci Connolly, managing director of PwC's Health Research Institute, said that over many years, in many different procedures, "We have learned that practice makes perfect in medicine."

"And there have been a number of experts and medical societies and data that have really tried to send the message to patients that when you are thinking about where to go and get your care, that you should take a look at which doctors and which health systems have the most experience with those procedures," said Connolly, who was not involved in the NerdWallet research.

Top 10 hospitals for high quality and low price

Hospital Name	City	State	Patients Treated	Hospital Charges	Medicare Payments
Crystal Clinic Orthopaedic Center	Akron	OH	512	$15,465	$10,740
St. Bernards Medical Center	Jonesboro	AR	299	$18,520	$13,002
Kenmore Mercy Hosptial	Kenmore	NY	204	$20,987	$12,311
Lahey Clinic Hospital	Burlington	MA	401	$21,338	$16,014
Nebraska Orthopaedic Hospital	Omaha	NE	381	$22,334	$11,622
Beverly Hospital Center	Beverly	MA	267	$22,389	$14,893
St. Elisabeth Medical Center	Utica	NY	253	$22,639	$12,519
Park Nicollet Methodist Hospital	St. Louis Park	MN	471	$22,788	$13,778
Northern Michigan Regional Hospital	Petoskey	MI	231	$23,065	$13,588
New England Baptist Hospital	Boston	MA	1464	$23,190	$13,934
Average				$21,272	$13,240

Source: CMS.gov Annual Inpatient Data, 2011.

For NerdWallet's Health study, LaMontagne she mined government statistics provided by Centers for Medicaire & Medicaid Services. That data also was used to assemble a Hospital Quality and Cost Tool that NerdWallet has posted online, and which consumers can use to check official costs, number of operations done, number of complications at each hospital.

More than 30 percent of Americans are covered by the government's Medicare insurance program, and hip- and knee-replacement operations are the most commonly performed surgery for that population. They also are among the most common surgeries for all Americans.

(Read More: High medical bills drive US bankruptcies)

LaMontagne said that she was surprised to see that the official prices charged by hospitals for the surgery "are all over the map . . .and it just doesn't make sense when you're looking at one of the most commonly performed procedures in the United States."

Top 10 most expensive knee and hip hospitals

Hospital Name	City	State	Patients Treated	Hospital Charges	Medicare Payments
Monterey Park Hospital	Monterey Park	CA	15	$223,373	$21,795
Centinela Hospital Medical Center	Inglewood	CA	47	$220,881	$18,011
Our Lady of Lourdes Medical Center	Camden	NJ	31	$202,777	$15,681
University of California Davis Medical Center	Sacramento	CA	121	$185,506	$26,054
Lourdes Medical Center of Burlington County	Willingboro	NJ	27	$177,168	$13,952
Hahnemann University Hospital	Philadelphia	PA	25	$173,874	$24,587
Temple University Hospital	Philadelphia	PA	48	$172,393	$22,674
University of California Irvine Med Center	Orange	CA	11	$172,023	$28,657
Regional Medical Center San Jose	San Jose	CA	61	$170,730	$25,041
Regional Hospital of Jackson	Jackson	TN	148	$161,699	$14,175
Average				$186,042	$21,063

Source: CMS.gov Annual Inpatient Data, 2011.

The average official cost for such surgeries across the U.S. is $45,236, NerdWallet Health found. That so-called "hospital charges" price does not take into effect the amounts paid for people covered by insurance, Medicare, Medicaid, or for hospitals and state policies for charity cases.

At Monterey Park Hospital in Monterey Park, Calif., the hospital charge for one of the 15 such surgeries they do annually is $223,373—making it the most expensive hospital in nation, according to the study. Medicare reimburses that hospital at the rate of $21,795 for one of those surgeries. A Monterey Park spokeswoman did not return requests for comment.

Crystal Clinic Orthopaedic Center in Akron, Ohio, which does 512 such surgeries annually, with minimal complications, has an official cost of just $15,465, making it the least expensive of all U.S. hospitals in the study that perform more than 200 the procedures each year.

Medicare reimburses the hospital at a rate of $10,740 for such procedures—$11,000 less than the rate paid to Monterey Park.

"Our mission at Crystal Clinic Orthopaedic Center is to provide the highest quality care at a low cost to our patients," said Ronald Suntken, president and CEO of the center. "As a physician-owned hospital completely focused on orthopaedics, we work hard to make this possible."

Top most expensive states for high quality knee and hip surgery

State	Hospital charges*
California	$88,230
Nevada	$71,782
New Jersey	$66,640
Alaska	$63,290
Florida	$62,092
Texas	$60,653
Colorado	$60,268
S. Carolina	$57,557
Illinois	$53,071
Washington	$53,039

Source: CMS.gov Annual Inpatient Data, 2011.

The facility that does the most of these kinds of operations in the nation, by far, is the Hospital for Special Surgery in New York City, which performs about 3,400 of them each year. The Hospital for Special Surgery's official charge for such procedures is $53,114, close to the national average. The hospital's Medicare reimbursement rate is $19,024.

Top 10 least expensive states for high quality knee and hip surgery

State	Hospital charges*
Maryland	$20,733
Maine	$29,898
Arkansas	$32,259
Montana	$32,415
Deleware	$32,607
Vermont	$33,204
Rhode Island	$33,713
West Virginia	$33,883
Utah	$34,497
Idaho	$34,545

Source: CMS.gov Annual Inpatient Data, 2011.

Last week, U.S. News and World Report named the Hospital for Special Surgery the top orthopaedic hospital in the nation. And in a 2011 review, the New York State Health Department found it had the lowest rate of surgical site infections in the state for hip replacement/revision surgeries.

(Watch: Surgery of the future?)

"We agree that there's a clear correlation between volume and quality," said Louis Shapiro, president of the Hospital for Special Surgery. "I see no correlation between price and quality."

But the hospital charge rates may not tell the full story. Sean Hopkins, vice president of the New Jersey Hospital Association, said very few patients in that state who undergo such surgeries are subject to the hospital charges cost.

Rebecca Harmon, a spokeswoman for Temple University Hospital, whose $172,393 hospital charge makes it the seventh most expensive in the nation for such surgeries, said, "The bottom line is, hospital charges are never used in relation to payments for patients who don't have insurance" at that facility. She said those patients are charged on a sliding scale based on federal poverty guidelines.

—By CNBC's Dan Mangan. Follow him on Twitter @_DanMangan.