Costs of diagnostic tests: estimates by health professionals.

Over the past 4 years, we have queried members of a hospital's medical, nursing and resident staffs and their students about their knowledge of hospital costs. In general, only 40% of the "guesstimates" provided have fallen within a mean +/- 25% range. Distribution of copies of individual patients' bills and of charge schedules failed to alter accuracy rates. With cost issues to dominant in today's health field, further study of derivative issues is important.