Hospitals across the U.S. are obligated by law to provide online readable files of all provided items and services, including costs for 300 “shoppable” services, but few have complied even with months to prepare.
Effective on January 1, the Hospital Price Transparency Rule requires publicly posted costs of 70 core services and 230 other services in plain language for the consideration of health care shoppers. All items and services must be displayed in a “consumer-friendly format.” According to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) website, this is key for, “consumers to shop and compare prices across hospitals and estimate the cost of care before going to the hospital.”
Hospitals, however, are not fully complying with the price transparency requirements. At a March 11 presentation before the Americas Health Insurance Plans conference, Deloitte US, an audit, consulting, tax, and advisory stated hospitals are reluctant to release data until they see how their competitors are following suit.
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