For 15 of 30 common medical treatments, either Lancaster Regional Medical Center or its sister hospital, Heart of Lancaster Regional Medical Center, had the highest or second-highest charges among 49 hospitals in the central and northeastern part of the state, according to the report released today.

Both hospitals are owned by Health Management Associates, a for-profit hospital company headquartered in Florida.

The report from the Pennsylvania Health Care Cost Containment Council also examined the 49 hospitals’ death rates, the length of their patients’ stays and their readmission rates. The report notes when hospitals have outcomes that are higher or lower than what would be expected in those areas.

The report also shows:

n Lancaster General Hospital had longer than expected stays for five treatments and lower than expected readmission rates for nine treatments. It also had a lower than expected death rate for the medical management of heart attacks.

n Ephrata Community Hospital had shorter than expected stays for four treatments and a higher than expected readmission rate for two treatments.

With regard to charges, Regional had the highest charge in the 30-county region for six treatments, including abnormal heartbeat, respiratory failure with mechanical ventilation, heart attack with angioplasty or stents, surgical repair of hip fracture, radical prostatectomy and diabetes with amputation.

Its charges for five other treatments were the second highest in the region.

Heart had the highest charge in the region for abdominal hysterectomy and had the second-highest charge for four other treatments.

For example, Regional’s average charge for the treatment of abnormal heartbeat was $26,193, the highest in the region. Heart’s $23,829 charge was the second highest in the region.

In comparison, Ephrata Community Hospital charged $14,202. Lancaster General Hospital charged $18,232. The regional average was $15,946.

Diane Gallagher, spokeswoman for the two HMA hospitals, said the charges do not represent what a hospital actually gets paid for a procedure.

Insurance companies use the charges to negotiate a fee with the hospital, she said.

“We’re not getting reimbursed more than the other hospitals,” she said. “It’s all based on that negotiated rate.”

Lancaster Regional has not increased its charges for two years, she said.

In other matters, Regional had lower than expected readmission rates for four treatments, including congestive heart failure and the surgical repair of hip fractures.

Heart had lower readmission rates for two treatments, congestive heart failure and kidney and urinary tract infections.

Gallagher said those results are due to the focus on “expert nursing care coordinated with skilled case management.”

Heart did have a higher than expected readmission rate for stomach and intestinal bleeding. Gallagher said there were so few patients in that group that even a low number of readmissions would skew the data.

Regional had a longer than expected stay for heart attack with angioplasty and stent. Gallagher said the administrative team is working with heart doctors to help deliver more effective and efficient care.

The report noted LGH had patients who had both a longer than expected stay and a lower than expected readmission rate for a number of treatments, including abnormal heartbeat, congestive heart failure and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

Spokesman John Lines said the two situations are not necessarily related.

LGH also saw longer patient stays for aspiration pneumonia and infectious pneumonia.

Lines said the length of a patient’s stay is affected by a number of factors, including complications or a patient’s home situation.

“That doesn’t necessarily indicate high- or low-quality care,” he said.

LGH’s main priorities, he said, are its death rates and readmission rates.

In nine treatments, readmission rates were lower than expected. The hospital had a lower than expected death rate for the medical management of heart attacks, as well as a shorter than expected stay for that treatment.

Ephrata Community Hospital had shorter than expected stays for four treatments, including kidney failure and infectious pneumonia.

Spokeswoman Joanne Eshelman said the hospital has an efficient team that works to plan a patient’s discharge so that all of the necessary services will be available once the patient leaves the hospital.

The hospital also had higher than expected readmissions for the medical management of diabetes and for respiratory failure with mechanical ventilation.

In both cases, Eshelman said, the patients were older and had many different medical problems, which often led to their having to return to the hospital.