Patients Deserve Price Tags Act

The Patients Deserve Price Tags Act would expand and tighten price transparency requirements for health care prices in the United States. It would require hospitals to publicly disclose a wide set of price information (gross charges, discounted cash prices, payer-specific negotiated charges, and related data) in a standardized format, starting in 2026. The bill also extends these transparency duties to clinical laboratories, certain imaging services, and ambulatory surgical centers (ASCs), with staggered start dates through 2027. In addition to publishing price data, the bill creates enforcement tools (including daily civil penalties) and requires senior hospital officials to attest to the accuracy of disclosures. States’ existing price-transparency rules are preserved unless they conflict with the federal requirements. Overall, the bill aims to make hospital and provider pricing more visible and easier for consumers to compare, with the intent of reducing surprise bills and helping patients shop for care.