In accordance with President Biden’s Competition Executive Order, CMS is further strengthening its efforts to increase price transparency, holding hospitals accountable and ensuring consumers have the information they need to make fully informed decisions regarding their health care.
Hospital price transparency helps Americans know what a hospital charges for the items and services they provide. CMS takes seriously concerns it has heard from consumers that hospitals are not making clear, accessible pricing information available online, as they have been required to do since January 1, 2021.
CMS proposes to increase the penalty for some hospitals that do not comply with Hospital Price Transparency final rule. Specifically, CMS is proposing to set a minimum civil monetary penalty of $300/day that would apply to smaller hospitals with a bed count of 30 or fewer and apply a penalty of $10/bed/day for hospitals with a bed count greater than 30, not to exceed a maximum daily dollar amount of $5,500. Under this proposed approach, for a full calendar year of noncompliance, the minimum total penalty amount would be $109,500 per hospital, and the maximum total penalty amount would be $2,007,500 per hospital.
Based on information that hospitals have made public this year, there is wide variation in prices – even within the same hospital or the same system, depending on what each insurance plan has negotiated with that hospital. CMS is committed to ensuring consumers have the information they need to make fully informed decisions regarding their health care, since health care prices can cause significant financial burdens for consumers.
On July 19, 2021, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) proposed Medicare payment rates for hospital outpatient and Ambulatory Surgical Center (ASC) services. The Calendar Year (CY) 2022 Hospital Outpatient Prospective Payment System (OPPS) and ASC Payment System Proposed Rule is published annually and will have a 60-day comment period, which will end on September 17, 2021. The final rule with comment period will be issued in early November.
In addition to proposing updated payment rates, this year’s rule includes proposals that align with several key goals of the Administration, including addressing the health equity gap, fighting the COVID-19 Public Health Emergency (PHE), encouraging transparency in the health system, and promoting safe, effective, and patient-centered care.
As with these other rules, CMS is publishing this proposed rule to meet the legal requirements to update Medicare payment policies for OPPS hospitals and ASCs on an annual basis. This fact sheet discusses the major provisions of the proposed rule (CMS- 1753-P), which can be downloaded at: https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/current
