Standard prices for thousands of Butler Health System treatments and services are available online, as required by a new federal rule going into affect Jan. 1.

BHS posted its cost data ahead of the deadline. The numbers are available in both a 400-page PDF and a downloadable spreadsheet at butlerhealthsystem.org. Once at the site, use the search function to find the “Billable Services/Fees” page.

Jana Panther, public relations director, said anyone with further questions about billing should call the hospital's finance department at 724-284-4460.

“If you look at this and you're not sure, call for information,” Panther said. “It gets really muddy and hard to understand, but we're happy to walk through everything with our patients.”

She said the hospital got the figures up ahead of time because it tries to do so when faced with new transparency requirements. Every hospital in the country is under the same requirement as of Jan. 1, as an Affordable Care Act rule must be fulfilled by that date. Hospitals are required to provide the information already, but the specific methods of online publication are new mandates this year.

Much of the list won't offer any clarity to the curious reader. Of 13,172 services listed, 2,320, or 17.6 percent, are listed only as “priced at time of service.”

This is an excerpt — read the full article in Sunday's Butler Eagle.