Hospital Transparency Compliance Enforcement Act
The Hospital Transparency Compliance Enforcement Act would amend the Public Health Service Act to tighten and enforce hospital price transparency. It requires every hospital operating in the United States to publicly publish a price list (and keep it updated) in a way that is easily searchable online, and it adds explicit timing rules for existing and newly operating hospitals. It also prohibits hiding pricing information behind code or other means that prevent online search. The bill introduces civil monetary penalties for noncompliance, with penalties calculated by hospital size and payable through established regulatory processes. Additionally, the Secretary of Health and Human Services would publish and periodically update a list of hospitals not in compliance. The sponsor is Senator Kennedy, and the measure aims to improve consumer access to hospital pricing data and strengthen accountability for transparency.
Key Points
- 1Timing requirements for transparency
- 2- Existing hospitals: must establish and publish their price list within 6 months after enactment and update it annually.
- 3- Newly operating hospitals: must publish within 6 months after beginning operation and update annually thereafter.
- 4Public, easily searchable data
- 5- Hospitals must publicly post the required price information and may not shield it from online search results through webpage coding.
- 6Civil monetary penalties for noncompliance
- 7- Penalty amounts vary by bed count and are assessed per day of noncompliance (smaller hospitals, larger hospitals, and very large hospitals have different per-day penalties).
- 8- Penalties are collected under established regulatory procedures, with payment due within 60 days after notice or after a final decision if a hearing is requested.
- 9Enforcement and public accountability
- 10- The Secretary must publish a list of hospitals not in compliance, starting 280 days after enactment and every 180 days thereafter.
- 11Scope and purpose
- 12- The act directly strengthens price transparency requirements under the Public Health Service Act to improve consumer access and promote accountability among hospitals.