From FIERCE Healthcare
Hospitals located in more concentrated healthcare markets, rural hospitals and those with higher per patient-day revenue could require “greater scrutiny” to ensure compliance with federal price transparency rules, according to a new analysis.
The warning comes alongside yet another review of hospital websites finding low industry-wide adherence to the mandate, which requires hospitals to post the prices for their most common procedures as well as a patient-friendly tool to help shop for 300 common services.
Across 5,239 hospital websites evaluated six to nine months after the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ (CMS’) Jan. 1, 2021, effective date, roughly 51% of hospitals did not adhere to either price transparency requirement, researchers wrote in a JAMA analysis published recently.
The study, based upon a survey of over 5,000 hospital websites, found that only about half of all hospitals met two key transparency requirements and that only 6% of all hospitals were fully compliant. The regulatory requirements state that anything less than full compliance could subject a hospital to penalties.