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119-s-729119th CongressWALLET

Hospital Transparency Compliance Enforcement Act

Sponsored By: Senator Kennedy, John [R-LA]

Introduced

Summary

Enforce hospital price transparency with fines. This bill would require hospitals to publish a standard, machine-readable price list, set deadlines for posting and updates, block hiding those lists from search, and let the Secretary publicly name violators.

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  • Hospitals would have 6 months to publish the required price list and must update it annually. New hospitals would get 6 months after opening to comply.
  • Patients and price shoppers would see standard hospital prices more easily online because hospitals could not use webpage coding to hide those lists from search results.
  • Noncompliant hospitals would face tiered daily fines: $600 per day for 30 beds or fewer, $20 per bed per day for 31 to 550 beds, and $11,000 per day for hospitals over 550 beds. The Health and Human Services Secretary would publish a list of noncompliant hospitals 280 days after enactment and every 180 days after.

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Bill Overview

Analyzed Economic Effects

3 provisions identified: 2 benefits, 1 costs, 0 mixed.

Daily fines for noncompliant hospitals

This bill would allow civil monetary penalties for hospitals that fail to meet the price-list rules for a year. Penalties would be per day and tiered by bed count: $600 per day for hospitals with 30 or fewer beds; $20 per bed per day for hospitals with 31 to 550 beds; and $11,000 per day for hospitals with more than 550 beds. Penalties would be imposed under existing CFR procedures and must be paid within 60 days after notice or, if a hearing is requested, within 60 days after a final decision upholding the penalty.

Hospitals must post price lists

This bill would require each U.S. hospital to create and publicly post a standard price list within 6 months of enactment. Hospitals would have to update the list every year. New hospitals would get 6 months after opening to post. Hospitals could not hide the list from online search results using webpage code. This would make price information easier for patients, families, employers, and insurers to find.

Public list of noncompliant hospitals

This bill would require the Secretary to publish the name of each hospital not following the price-list rules. The first list would come 280 days after enactment. Updated lists would be published every 180 days after that. Patients, employers, and insurers could use the list to identify hospitals that are not meeting the transparency requirements.

Sponsors & CoSponsors

Sponsor

Kennedy, John [R-LA]

LA • R

Cosponsors

There are no cosponsors for this bill.

Roll Call Votes

No roll call votes available for this bill.

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