OAKLAND -- Patients want the most for their money when they have surgery, how can they tell which Bay Area hospitals provide the best care and at what price? Some new online services are becoming available to help patients make those decisions.

While some health professionals have differing opinions about whether patients should comparison shop for the least expensive provider, the current health care crisis may make such shopping routine and necessary.

Some insurers plan to require patients to pay more if they pick an expensive hospital. Career counselor Linda Artel has had one hip replacement and may need another. She understood that doing some research could help her save money on the procedure.

"Oh yeah I would absolutely shop. And then I'd be concerned [about getting] a good doctor, good practitioner," explains Artel.

KTVU Channel 2 compared Bay Area costs for a hip replacement. Surgeons put a metal device in the worn out hip joint. The hardware costs a couple thousand dollars, but the total surgery cost can vary dramatically.

A new local web business called Vimo compiles data from government and insurance companies, allowing users to see the projected costs of different procedures at different hospitals.

"What we're providing is one side of the equation," says Vimo founder and CEO Chini Krishnan. "What we're trying to tell you is, on average, this procedure at this hospital is going to cost you this much."

The Vimo Web site shows San Francisco General as the Bay Area's most expensive location for hip replacement, averaging $41,250. Across town, California Pacific Medical Center averages $26,300. The Bay Area's least expensive health care provider for the procedure is Santa Rosa's Sutter-Warrack, averaging $20,400.

Even related hospitals in the same area charge significantly different costs. Berkeley's Alta Bates comes in at just over $29,050, while Oakland's Summit costs $31,200 and Castro Valley's Eden Hospital charges about $23,400.

They're all run by the same company: Sutter Health.

"For the consumer, sites like this are probably a good indicator," says Eden Medical Center administrator Cassandra Phelps. "But [the data is] not specific enough or accurate enough for anybody to make a good decision."

Teaching hospitals such as UCSF ($35,500) and Stanford ($33,350) are usually more expensive than community hospitals such as John Muir in Walnut Creek ($23,750). That's where surgeon John Kronick has a busy practice.

"Joint replacement, I think, is a very lucrative business for the hospital," says Kronick.

Hospitals with trauma centers may charge more to defray unreimbursed costs. You can get specific details by calling the hospital and asking for what's called the master charge for any procedure. Then talk with your insurance company.

While cost analysis can be based on records, information on health care quality is difficult to find. Medicare puts some rudimentary data online now and is working on a major initiative to discover, report and reward better health care performance.

"We will be rewarding hospitals that have high quality, low cost, good patient experience," says Medicare representative Jeff Flick. He says Medicare ran a two-year nationwide test on over 200 hospitals.

"We've paid out millions of dollars in bonuses to hospitals that have performed well, and in that demonstration program we're getting about an 11 percent improvement in the quality of care," explains Flick.

Beginning this summer, doctors will begin reporting data and soon they will also get public ratings. Look for performance ratings to come online over the next two years. Consumers can also look for health insurers to offer rewards for choosing a providers that are efficient, while penalizing the use of providers that are not.