Price Transparency
Hospitals and health systems are committed to empowering patients and their families with all the information they need to live their healthiest lives. This includes ensuring they have access to accurate and timely price information when seeking care. Hospitals and health systems have made important progress in adopting federal price transparency requirements that require they both publicly post machine-readable files of a wide range of rate information and provide more consumer-friendly displays of pricing information for at least 300 shoppable services.
The 黑料正能量 Association (AHA), Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC), Children鈥檚 Hospital Association (CHA) and Federation of 黑料正能量s (FAH) issued the following joint statement on today鈥檚 final rule from CMS: Today鈥檚 rule mandating the public disclosure of privately鈥
In a letter to the editor responding to a recent editorial in Modern Healthcare, AHA President and CEO Rick Pollack says hospitals are working to supply information on consumers鈥 expected out-of-pocket costs.
Regarding Modern Healthcare's Sept. 27 editorial: Hospitals and health systems understand 鈥 and share 鈥 consumers鈥 frustrations with understanding how much they will be expected to pay for care. And that鈥檚 why the field has advocated for solutions.
Hospitals are working to supply鈥
CMS鈥 proposal mandating the disclosure of negotiated charges between health plans and hospitals is the wrong approach, exceeds the Administration's legal authority and should be abandoned, AHA told the agency today.
The AHA appreciates the opportunity to comment on the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services鈥 hospital outpatient prospective payment system and ambulatory surgical center payment system proposed rule for calendar year 2020.
Next week, CBS News is slated to air a three-part series called 鈥淢edical Price Roulette,鈥 exploring medical costs, including hospital prices. The series is scheduled to run Monday, Sept. 23, through Wednesday, Sept. 25, on both CBS This Morning and CBS Evening News (watch a preview of the series).
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services in its hospital outpatient prospective payment system proposed rule for calendar year 2020 proposes to require that hospitals publicly post on the internet a machine-readable file containing both gross charges and 鈥減ayer-specific negotiated charges鈥濃
Use AHA model letter to submit your comments to CMS by Sept. 27
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services in its hospital outpatient prospective payment system proposed rule for calendar year 2020 proposes to require that hospitals publicly post on the internet a machine-readable file鈥
The AHA has developed a model comment letter that hospitals and health systems can use to submit comments to CMS about these proposals. Download the letter and use it to submit your comments to CMS by Sept. 27.
The House Energy and Commerce Committee in July passed legislation, The No Surprises Act (H.R. 2328), to prevent surprise medical bills.
AHA Ask: Policymakers should focus on assisting rural hospitals in their negotiations with payers and providing the incentives and resources needed to maintain鈥